Nonlinear hyperbolic equations with dissipative temporal and spatial non-local memory (Q1969391)

The authors use a Galerkin approximation argument to prove the existence of weak solutions to the equations describing the motion of a nonlinear viscoelastic material with memory in several space dimensions. The displacements \(u_i\) depend on the stress \(\sigma_{ij}\) in the usual way, i.e., for \(i=1,2,\ldots,N\), \[ \ddot u_i(x,t) - {\partial \over \partial x_j} \sigma_{ij}(x,t) = f_i(x,t) \text{ on } \Omega \times (0,\infty), \] where \(\Omega\) is a Lipschitz domain and \(f_i\) represent external forces. The stress consists of two components: \(\sigma = \sigma^I + \sigma^M\). The instantaneous stress \(\sigma^I\) is of nonlinear elliptic type, i.e., \[ \sigma^I_{ij} = {\partial W \over \partial e_{ij}}(eu), \] where \(e_{ij}u = {1 \over 2} ({\partial u_i \over \partial x_j} + {\partial u_j \over \partial x_i})\) and \(W\) is a given constitutive function. In the absence of the memory stress \(\sigma^M\) the equation is hyperbolic. The memory stress is of the type \[ \sigma^M_{ij} = -\lambda \int_0^t \int_\Omega (e_{ij}u(\xi,\tau) - e_{ij}u(\xi,t)) {h(t-\tau) \over |x - \xi|^\alpha} d\xi d\tau, \] i.e., it is distributed both in time and in space. The needed energy estimates are based on the damping effect of the memory part of the stress tensor.