History-dependent mixed variational problems in contact mechanics (Q2018509)

The authors consider a variational problem which consists of a functional equation and an inequality, as an ``initial condition'', that we call Problem 1 as in the paper. This problem involves Lagrange multipliers and arise in the study of various quasistatic contact problems with elastic, viscoelastic and viscoplastic bodies. It should be noted that Problem 1 is evolutionary, is defined on infinite interval of time and involves history-dependent operators. During the work there are three concerns. The first one is to study the unique solvability of Problem 1. In this sense it is used a result related to a generalized sadle point problem combined with a fixed point result. The authors show that under appropriate conditions, Problem 1 has a unique solution. Other concern is to study the behavior of the solution of Problem 1 with respect to a perturbation of the data. In this sense, the authors use monotonicity properties and arguments of convergence which allow the demonstration of a result of convergence. The third concern of the paper is to show that the above abstract results can be used in the analysis of mathematical models of Contact Mechanics. In this sense, it is considered a quasistatic process of contact between a viscoplastic body and a deformable foundation, the contact being with normal compliance and finite penetration.