An augmented Lagrangian technique for variational inequalities

A general framework for the treatment of a class of elliptic variational inequalities by an augmented Lagrangian method, when inequalities with infinite-dimensional image space are augmented, is developed. Applications to the obstacle problem, the elastoplastic torsion problem, and the Signorini problem are given.The research of the first author was supported in part by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research under Grants AFOSR-84-0398 and AFOSR-85-0303, by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under Grant NAG-1-1517, and by NSF under Grant No. UINT-8521208. The second author's research was supported in part by the Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung under S3206 and P6005.