Wave equations with strong damping in Hilbert spaces (Q1945859)

In this article the abstract strongly damped wave equation \[ u''(t) + Au(t) + Au'(t) = 0 \quad (t > 0), \qquad u(0) = u_0, \quad u'(0) = u_1 \] is studied, where \(A\) is a nonnegative self-adjoint operator on a Hilbert space. It follows from the Lumer-Phillips theorem that the problem has a unique mild solution \(u \in C([0,\infty); D(A^{1/2})) \cap C^1([0, \infty); H)\) for \((u_0, u_1) \in D(A^{1/2}) \times H\). The main results of the paper give estimates for the long time behaviour of such solutions depending on the regularity of the initial values, for example it is shown that the energy \(E_u(t) = \frac{1}{2} (\| u'(t) \|^2 + \| A^{1/2} u(t) \|^2)\) satisfies \[ E_u(t) \leq C(\| e^{-t\eta A} u_0 \|^2 + \| e^{-t\eta A} u_1 \|^2) + Ce^{-\eta t} (\| A^{1/2} u_0 \|^{1/2} + \| u_1 \|^2) \] for \((u_0, u_1) \in D(A^{1/2}) \times H\), \(t > 0\) and positive constants \(C, \eta\). In particular this gives interesting estimates for the solutions of strongly damped wave equations with variable coefficients in \(\mathbb{R}^N\) or exterior domains: for such a domain with smooth boundary the authors obtain energy estimates (for continuous symmetric coefficients \(b(x) = b_{ij}(x)\)) for the problem \[ u_{tt}(t,x) - \nabla \cdot (b(x) \nabla u) - \nabla \cdot (b(x) \nabla u_t) = 0, \qquad ((t,x) \in (0,\infty) \times \Omega) \] with \[ u(0,x) = u_0(x), \quad u_t(0,x) = u_1(x) \quad (x \in \Omega), \qquad u_{|\partial \Omega} = 0. \]