Homogenization of dynamic laminates (Q1018310)

The author considers two problems with variable and periodic coefficients. The first one is a 1D Maxwell problem \((\rho (x/\varepsilon ,t/\varepsilon)u_{t})_{t}-(k(x/\varepsilon,t/\varepsilon)u_{x})_{x}=0\), where \(\rho \) and \(k\) are piecewise constant and periodic functions with respect to their space and time variables. The second one is an electromagnetic one \(\nabla \times \mathbf{E}=-\mathbf{B}_{t}\), \(\nabla \cdot \mathbf{B}=0\), \(\nabla \times \mathbf{H}=\mathbf{D}_{t}\), \(\nabla \cdot \mathbf{D}=0\), assuming that the magnetic and dielectric permeabilities \(\varepsilon _{\varepsilon}\) and \(\mu _{\varepsilon}\) are periodic functions with respect to their space and time variables. The author first proves that, without further conditions, these problems may not have solutions or that the solution is not unique. The first main result of the paper describes the homogenization of the wave equation. The author assumes that the velocity (one weak solution) converges in the weak topology of \(H^{1}(\Omega )\) and that some cell problem has a solution (notion of well definition for the effective tensor). The author proves a convergence result using a div-curl lemma and some homogenization tools similar to that which are employed in the conductivity case. The situation of the Maxwell equation is described in a quite similar way. The author studies the cell problem in a further part. The paper ends with an example considering laminates. Using Milton's formula, the author gives explicit formulae for the effective parameters in the homogenization of the 1D wave equation and Maxwell's equation.