Estimates for the quenching time of a parabolic equation modeling electrostatic MEMS (Q1021008)

The singular parabolic problem \[ u_t-\Delta u=\frac{\lambda f(x)} {(1-u)^2} \] in a bounded domain \(\Omega\) of \(\mathbb{R}^N\) subject to zero initial data and Dirichlet boundary conditions, models the dynamic deflection of an elastic membrane in a simple electrostatic Micro-ElectroMechanical System (MEMS) device. This paper analyzes and estimates the quenching time of the elastic membrane in terms of the applied voltage (represented by \(\lambda)\). For sufficiently large \(\lambda\), it is proved that quenching in a finite time must occur near the maximum point of the varying dielectric permittivity profile \(f(x)\).