Maximum principle for optimal distributed control of viscous weakly dispersive Degasperis–Procesi equation

This paper is concerned with the optimal distributed control of the viscous weakly dispersive Degasperis–Procesi equation in nonlinear shallow water dynamics. It is well known that the Pontryagin maximum principle, which unifies calculus of variations and control theory of ordinary differential equations, sets up the theoretical basis of the modern optimal control theory along with the Bellman dynamic programming principle. In this paper, we commit ourselves to infinite dimensional generalizations of the maximum principle and aim at the optimal control theory of partial differential equations. In contrast to the finite dimensional setting, the maximum principle for the infinite dimensional system does not generally hold as a necessary condition for optimal control. By the Dubovitskii and Milyutin functional analytical approach, we prove the Pontryagin maximum principle of the controlled viscous weakly dispersive Degasperis–Procesi equation. The necessary optimality condition is established for the problem in fixed final horizon case. Finally, a remark on how to utilize the obtained results is also made. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.