Analysis of a dynamic contact problem for electro-viscoelastic cylinders

We consider a mathematical model which describes the antiplane shear deformations of a piezoelectric cylinder in frictional contact with a foundation. The process is mechanically dynamic and electrically static, the material behavior is described with a linearly electro-viscoelastic constitutive law, the contact is frictional and the foundation is assumed to be electrically conductive. Both the friction and the electrical conductivity condition on the contact surface are described with subdifferential boundary conditions. We derive a variational formulation of the problem which is of the form of a system coupling a second order hemivariational inequality for the displacement field with a time-dependent hemivariational inequality for the electric potential field. Then we prove the existence of a unique weak solution to the model. The proof is based on abstract results for second order evolutionary inclusions in Banach spaces. Finally, we present concrete examples of friction laws and electrical conductivity conditions for which our result is valid.     

Analysis of a dynamic unilateral contact problem for a cracked viscoelastic body

This work deals with the mathematical analysis of a dynamic unilateral contact problem with friction for a cracked viscoelastic body. We consider here a Kelvin-Voigt viscoelastic material and a nonlocal friction law. To prove the existence of a solution to the unilateral problem with friction, an auxiliary penalized problem is studied. Several estimates on the penalized solutions are given, which enable us to pass to the limit by using compactness results. Received: February 16, 2005     

Numerical analysis of a frictional contact problem for viscoelastic materials with long-term memory

We consider a mathematical model which describes the bilateral contact between a deformable body and an obstacle. The process is quasistatic, the material is assumed to be viscoelastic with long memory and the friction is modeled with Tresca’s law. The problem has a unique weak solution. Here we study spatially semi-discrete and fully discrete schemes using finite differences and finite elements. We show the convergence of the schemes under the basic solution regularity and we derive order error estimates. Finally, we present an algorithm for the numerical realization and simulations for a two-dimensional test problem.     

Existence and uniqueness for a nonlinear parabolic/Hamilton–Jacobi coupled system describing the dynamics of dislocation densities

We study a mathematical model describing the dynamics of dislocation densities in crystals. This model is expressed as a 1D system of a parabolic equation and a first order Hamilton–Jacobi equation that are coupled together. We examine an associated Dirichlet boundary value problem. We prove the existence and uniqueness of a viscosity solution among those assuming a lower-bound on their gradient for all time including the initial time. Moreover, we show the existence of a viscosity solution when we have no such restriction on the initial data. We also state a result of existence and uniqueness of entropy solution for the initial value problem of the system obtained by spatial derivation. The uniqueness of this entropy solution holds in the class of bounded-from-below solutions. In order to prove our results on the bounded domain, we use an “extension and restriction” method, and we exploit a relation between scalar conservation laws and Hamilton–Jacobi equations, mainly to get our gradient estimates.     

Analysis of a Class of Frictional Contact Problems for the Bingham Fluid

We consider a mathematical model which describes the stationary flow of a Bingham fluid with friction. The frictional contact is modeled by a general velocity dependent dissipation functional. We derive a weak formulation of the model which consists in a variational inequality for the velocity field. We establish the existence and uniqueness of the weak solution as well as its continuous dependence with respect to the contact condition. Finally, we describe a number of concrete friction conditions which may be set in this general framework and for which our results apply.     

Dynamic hemivariational inequality modeling viscoelastic contact problem with normal damped response and friction

In this article we examine an evolution problem, which describes the dynamic contact of a viscoelastic body and a foundation. The contact is modeled by a general normal damped response condition and a friction law, which are nonmonotone, possibly multivalued and have the subdifferential form. First we derive a formulation of the model in the form of a multidimensional hemivariational inequality. Then we establish a priori estimates and we prove the existence of weak solutions by using a surjectivity result for pseudomonotone operators. Finally, we deliver conditions under which the solution of the hemivariational inequality is unique.     

Analysis of an elasto-piezoelectric system of hemivariational inequalities with thermal effects

In this paper we prove the existence and uniqueness of a weak solution for a dynamic electo-viscoelastic problem that describes a contact between a body and a foundation. We assume the body is made from thermoviscoelastic material and consider nonmonotone boundary conditions for the contact. We use recent results from the theory of hemivariational inequalities and the fixed point theory.     

Boundary optimal control for nonlinear antiplane problems

We consider a nonlinear antiplane problem which models the deformation of an elastic cylindrical body in frictional contact with a rigid foundation. The contact is modelled with Tresca’s law of dry friction in which the friction bound is slip dependent.The aim of this article is to study an optimal control problem which consists of leading the stress tensor as close as possible to a given target, by acting with a control on the boundary of the body. The existence of at least one optimal control is proved. Next we introduce a regularized problem, depending on a small parameter ρ, and we study the convergence of the optimal controls when ρ tends to zero. An optimality condition is delivered for the regularized problem.     

Variational approach and optimal control of a PEM fuel cell

The purpose of this paper is to propose and study a mathematical model and a boundary control problem associated to the miscible displacement of hydrogen through the porous anode of a PEM fuel cell. Throughout the paper, we study certain variational problems with a priori regularity properties of the weak solutions. We obtain the existence of less regular solutions and then we prove the desired regularity of these solutions. We consider a control problem that permits to determine the boundary distribution of the pressure which provides an optimal configuration for the temperature and for the concentration, as well. Since the solution of the problem is not unique, the control variable does not appear explicitly in the definition of our cost functional. To overcome this difficulty, we introduce a family of penalized control problems which approximates our boundary control problem. The necessary conditions of optimality are derived by passing to the limit in the penalized optimality conditions.     

A new hybrid method for solving a generalized equilibrium problem, solving a variational inequality problem and obtaining common fixed points in Banach spaces, with applications

The purpose of this paper is to prove by using a new hybrid method a strong convergence theorem for finding a common element of the set of solutions for a generalized equilibrium problem, the set of solutions for a variational inequality problem and the set of common fixed points for a pair of relatively nonexpansive mappings in a Banach space. As applications, we utilize our results to obtain some new results for finding a solution of an equilibrium problem, a fixed point problem and a common zero-point problem for maximal monotone mappings in Banach spaces.     

A dynamic thermoviscoelastic problem: An existence and uniqueness result

This work deals with the variational analysis of a dynamic problem which models the temperature evolution in a thermoviscoelastic body. The variational problem is formulated as a coupled system of evolutionary nonlinear variational equations. Then, the existence of a unique weak solution is proved using Banach fixed-point arguments and results on time-dependent families of subgradients.     

On asymptotic properties for some parameter-dependent variational inequalities

This paper is concerned with asymptotic and monotonicity properties of some parameter-dependent variational inequalities. The main part of the study deals with inequalities modelling friction problems with normal compliance or Tresca’s conditions in which the parameter stands for the friction coefficient. The corresponding inequalities are (generalizations) of variational inequalities of the second kind. We then study an inequality of the first kind representing the elastoplastic torsion problem where the parameter represents the plasticity yield.     

Variational formulation for a general dynamic financial equilibrium problem: Balance law and liability formula

An evolutionary model for a multi-sector, multi-instrument financial equilibrium problem, with a general utility function, different prices for assets and liabilities and including the expenses for the management of the financial institutions is presented. In this general case, we give the evolutionary financial equilibrium conditions and prove their equivalence with an evolutionary variational inequality, from which existence results of the financial equilibrium follow. Moreover, making use of new nonlinear analysis results, we develop a Lagrange theory which allows one to study the behaviour of the financial equilibrium by means of the Lagrange multipliers. As a product of this analysis, we prove that for the financial model an equilibrium law together with a liability formula must be fulfilled, from which the reorganization of the existing financial disequilibrium depends.     

Weak solvability of antiplane frictional contact problems for elastic cylinders

We study a mathematical model which describes the antiplane shear deformations of a cylinder in frictional contact with a rigid foundation. The process is static, the material behavior is described with a linearly elastic constitutive law and friction is modeled with a general slip dependent subdifferential boundary condition. We derive a variational formulation of the model which is in a form of a hemivariational inequality for the displacement field. Then we prove the existence of a weak solution to the model and, under additional assumptions, its uniqueness. The proofs are based on abstract results for operator inclusions in Banach spaces. Finally, we present concrete examples of friction laws for which our results are valid.     

Moser iteration for (quasi)minimizers on metric spaces

We study regularity properties of quasiminimizers of the p-Dirichlet integral on metric measure spaces. We adapt the Moser iteration technique to this setting and show that it can be applied without an underlying differential equation. However, we have been able to run the Moser iteration fully only for minimizers. We prove Caccioppoli inequalities and local boundedness properties for quasisub- and quasisuperminimizers. This is done in metric spaces equipped with a doubling measure and supporting a weak (1, p)-Poincaré inequality. The metric space is not required to be complete. We also provide an example which shows that the dilation constant from the weak Poincaré inequality is essential in the condition on the balls in the Harnack inequality. This fact seems to have been overlooked in the earlier literature on nonlinear potential theory on metric spaces.     

The weak solution of an antiplane contact problem for electro-viscoelastic materials with long-term memory

We study a mathematical model which describes the antiplane shear deformation of a cylinder in frictionless contact with a rigid foundation. The material is assumed to be electro-viscoelastic with long-term memory, and the friction is modeled with Tresca’s law and the foundation is assumed to be electrically conductive. First we derive the classical variational formulation of the model which is given by a system coupling an evolutionary variational equality for the displacement field with a time-dependent variational equation for the potential field. Then we prove the existence of a unique weak solution to the model. Moreover, the proof is based on arguments of evolution equations and on the Banach fixedpoint theorem.     

Weak solutions for nonlinear antiplane problems leading to hemivariational inequalities

We analyze the antiplane shear deformation of an elastic cylinder in frictional contact with a rigid foundation, for static processes, under the small deformation hypothesis. Based on the Knaster–Kuratowski–Mazurkiewicz technique in the theory of the hemivariational inequalities, we prove that the model has at least one weak solution. Moreover, we present several examples of constitutive laws and friction laws for which our theoretical results are valid. Finally, we comment on the conditions which guarantee the uniqueness of the solution.     

Asymptotically regular problems I: Higher integrability

We consider weak solutions u of non-linear systems of partial differential equations. Assuming that the system exhibits a certain kind of elliptic behavior near infinity we prove higher integrability results for the gradient Du. In particular, we establish Hölder continuity of u in low dimensions. Moreover, we obtain analogous results for vectorial minimizers of multi-dimensional variational integrals. Finally, we discuss an extension to minimizing sequences and applications to generalized minimizers.     

Approximation results by difference schemes of fracture energies: the vectorial case

In this paper we deal with Monge-Ampère type equations in two dimensions and, using the symmetrization with respect to the perimeter, we prove some comparison results for solutions of such equations involving the solutions of conveniently symmetrized problems.     

A quasistatic evolution model for perfectly plastic plates derived by Γ-convergence

The subject of this paper is the rigorous derivation of a quasistatic evolution model for a linearly elastic–perfectly plastic thin plate. As the thickness of the plate tends to zero, we prove via Γ-convergence techniques that solutions to the three-dimensional quasistatic evolution problem of Prandtl–Reuss elastoplasticity converge to a quasistatic evolution of a suitable reduced model. In this limiting model the admissible displacements are of Kirchhoff–Love type and the stretching and bending components of the stress are coupled through a plastic flow rule. Some equivalent formulations of the limiting problem in rate form are derived, together with some two-dimensional characterizations for suitable choices of the data.