On boundary controllability of a vibrating plate (Q1078513)

This paper discusses the boundary controllability problem for the system \(u_{tt}+\Delta^ 2u=0\) in (0,\(\infty)\times \Omega\), \(u_{\nu}=0\) on [0,\(\infty)\times \partial \Omega\), \((\Delta u)_{\nu}=\phi\) on [0,\(\infty)\times \partial \Omega\), \(u(0,x)=u_ 0(x)\), \(u_ t(0,x)=u_ 1(x)\) in \(\Omega\), where \(\phi \in L^ 2[(0,\infty)\times \partial \Omega]\) is the control. The authors prove the existence and uniqueness of a generalized solution and the controllability property for arbitrarily short times (for large times the argument is elementary and the result is less surprising). As an application a null controllability problem with constraints is considered.