Long time approximations for solutions of wave equations associated with the Steklov spectral homogenization problems

The interest in the use of quasimodes, or almost frequencies and almost eigenfunctions, to describe asymptotics for low‐frequency and high‐frequency vibrations in certain singularly perturbed spectral problems, which depend on a small parameter ε, has been recently highlighted in many papers. In this paper we deal with the low frequencies for a Steklov‐type eigenvalue homogenization problem: we consider harmonic functions in a bounded domain of ?², and strongly alternating boundary conditions of the Dirichlet and Steklov type on a part of the boundary. The spectral parameter appears in the boundary condition on small segments T^ε of size O(ε) periodically distributed along the boundary; ε also measures the periodicity of the structure. We consider associated second‐order evolution problems on spaces of traces that depend on ε, and we provide estimates for the time t in which standing waves, constructed from quasimodes, approach their solutions u^ε(t) as ε→0. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.