Reinforcement problems for elliptic equations and variational inequalities

Summary Consider the Dirichlet problem for an elliptic equation in a domain , with coefficients having discontinuity on a surface . Suppose divides into _{1 2}(₂ the inner core), the thickness of ₁ is of order of magnitude , and the modulus of ellipticity in ₁ is of order magnitude ₁. The asymptotic behavior of the solution is studied as 0, ₁ 0, provided lim (/₁) exists. Other questions of this type are studied both for elliptic equations and for elliptic variational inequalities.The second author is partially supported by National Science Foundation Grant 7406375 A01. The third author is partially supported by National Science Foundation Grant MC575-21416 A01.