Exact boundary observability for nonautonomous quasilinear wave equations (Q847049)

This paper deals with the exact observability of the following 1-D quasilinear non-autonomous wave equations: \[ u_{tt}-c^2(t,x,u,u_x,u_t)u_{xx}=f(t,x,u,u_x,u_t), \tag{1} \] where \(f\) and the propagation speed of the nonlinear wave \(c>0\) are suitable smooth functions with respect to their arguments. The boundary conditions can be one of the following inhomogeneous boundary conditions: \[ \begin{aligned} u(t,0)=h(t);\qquad& u(t,L)=\bar{h}(t),\tag{2a}\\ u_x(t,0)=h(t);\qquad& u_x(t,L)=\bar{h}(t),\tag{2b}\\ u_x(t,0)-\alpha u(t,0)=h(t);\qquad& u_x(t,L)+\bar{\alpha}u(t,L)=\bar{h}(t),\tag{2c}\\ u_x(0,t)-\beta u_t(t,0)=h(t);\qquad& u_x(t,L)+\bar{\beta}u_t(t,L)=\bar{h}(t),\tag{2d} \end{aligned} \] where \(t\in [t_0,t_0+T]\), \(t_0\in \mathbb R\), \(T>0\). The constants \(\alpha\), \(\beta\), \(\bar{\alpha}\) and \(\bar{\beta}\) are positive. The initial condition is given by: \[ (u(t_0,x),u_t(t_0,x)=(\varphi(x),\psi(x)), \quad 0\leq x\leq L, \tag{3} \] where \((\varphi,\psi)\in C^2[0,L]\times C^1[0,L]\). Assuming that the \(C^2\) compatibility conditions are satisfied, the authors establish by means of a direct and constructive method due to \textit{T. T. Li} [Controllability and observability for quasilinear hyperbolic systems. AIMS on Applied Mathematics, vol. 3, American Institute of Mathematical Sciences \& Higher Education Press (2010; Zbl 1198.93003); Math. Methods Appl. Sci. 29, No. 13, 1543--1553 (2006; Zbl 1100.35017); \textit{T. Li} and \textit{L. Yu}, SIAM J. Control Optim. 45, No. 3, 1074--1083 (2006; Zbl 1116.93021)], based on the theory of global classical solution, that the local exact boundary observability for (1)--(3) holds. The results generalize the one obtained by Li in [Zbl 1100.35017].