Separation of linear components in nonlinear boundary heat control

By means of an additional substitution a parabolic control problem with some nonlinear boundary condition will be decoupled into some control problem with linear parabolic state equations and an appropriate nonlinear mapping. This separation allows the use of efficient techniques e.g. Fourier methods, to determine the solution of linear parabolic state equations. Essential properties of the mapping used in the transformation are studied. Further, the application of piecewise constant discretizations of the controls in connection with the proposed splitting is discussed.