On a viscoelastic plate equation with strong damping and \(\overrightarrow p(x,t)\)-Laplacian. Existence and uniqueness. (Q2341782)

This paper is concerned with the local and global existence and the uniqueness of a weak solution for a class of plate equations with \(\overrightarrow p(x,t)\)-Laplacian and fading memory of the form \[ u_{tt}+\Delta ^2u-\Delta_{\overrightarrow p(x,t)}u+\int_0^t g(t-s)\Delta u(s)ds -\epsilon \Delta u_t+f(u)=0 \tag{0.1} \] on a bounded domain \(\Omega \subset \mathbb R^n\) with the clamped boundary condition. In the one-dimension case, this kind of problem without memory models elastoplastic microstructure flows. A model established by \textit{L. J. An} and \textit{A. Peirce} [SIAM J. Appl. Math. 54, No. 3, 708--730 (1994; Zbl 0805.35139); ibid. 55, No. 1, 136--155 (1995; Zbl 0815.73022)] is of the form \[ u_{tt}+\varsigma u_{xxxx}-a(u_x^2)_x=0,\quad a<0,\;\varsigma =\mathrm{const} > 0. \] Another related equation in the two-dimension case is the Kirchhoff-Boussinesq model for plate equations \[ u_{tt}+ku_t+\Delta ^2u-\operatorname{div} [f_0(\nabla u)]=\Delta[f_1(u)]-f_2(u), \] which was considered by \textit{I. Chueshov} and \textit{I. Lasiecka} in [Discrete Contin. Dyn. Syst. 15, No. 3, 777--809 (2006; Zbl 1220.35014); Mem. Am. Math. Soc. 912, 1--183 (2008; Zbl 1151.37059)]. In the general \(n\)-dimensional setting, the strongly damped plate equations \[ u_{tt}+\Delta ^2u-\text{div}[\sigma(|\nabla u|^2)\nabla u]-\Delta u_t=h(x,u,u_t) \] with both clamped and simply supported boundary conditions were investigated by \textit{Z. Yang} et al. [J. Math. Phys. 50, No. 3, 032701, 29 pp. (2009; Zbl 1202.37114); ibid. 51, No. 3, 032701, 17 p. (2010; Zbl 1309.74016); ibid. 53, No. 3, 032702, 15 p. (2012; Zbl 1274.35381); Math. Methods Appl. Sci. 32, No. 9, 1082--1104 (2009; Zbl 1183.35046)]. Their results were mainly concerned with the global existence and long-time behavior of weak or strong solutions. With respect to viscoelastic plates with fading memory, consideration was given by \textit{D. Andrade} et al. (see [ibid. 35, No. 4, 417--426 (2012; Zbl 1235.35198)]) to the global existence and uniqueness of solutions to the equation \[ u_{tt}+\Delta ^2u-\Delta_pu+\int_0^t g(t-s)\Delta u(s)ds -\epsilon \Delta u_t+f(u)=0 \] on a bounded domain \(\Omega \subset \mathbb R^n\) with simply supported boundary conditions and the usual \(p\)-Laplacian \(\Delta_pu\). By assuming that the memory kernel \(g>0\) decays exponentially, the exponential stability of the problem was also proved. The present paper extends the results in [loc. cit.] by considering Eq. (0.1) associated with the \(\overrightarrow p(x,t)\)-Laplacian and the clamped boundary condition. The focus is on overcoming the difficulties caused by the variable exponent \(p_i(x,t)\), \(i=1,2,\dots ,n\). This is the first result dealing with Eq. (0.1) with regard to the interaction of the memory term with a lower order perturbation of \(\overrightarrow p(x,t)\)-Laplacian type.