Global well-posedness and stability of a partial integro-differential equation with applications to viscoelasticity (Q1397613)

The paper is concerned with the initial-boundary-value problem for \[ u_{tt}(t, x)= \int^t_0 a(t- s)u_{txx}(s, x)\,ds+ {d\over dt} \int^t_0 b(t- s)(g(u_x(s, x)))_x\,ds+ f(t,x),\tag{1} \] where the (creep) kernels behave like \(a(t)\sim c_a t^{\alpha-1}\), \(b(t)\sim c_b t^{\beta-1}\) \((0< \alpha<\beta\leq 1)\) near \(t= 0^+\) and satisfy certain monotonicity conditions. Partial Volterra integro-differential equations of this type arise in the mathematical modelling of the viscoelastic behaviour of certain materials. The authors establish results on the global existence and the asymptotic behaviour of solutions to (1). An appendix collects a number of key properties and characterizations of the given kernels. Analogous results for the special case of (1) corresponding to \(a(t)= t^{\alpha-1}\) and \(b(t)\equiv 1\) can be found in \textit{H. Petzeltová} and \textit{J. Prüss} [J. Integral Equations Appl. 12, No. 3, 323--347 (2000; Zbl 0987.35022)].