Asymptotic behavior for the vibrating string with a moving boundary (Q2367824)

We study the behavior of solutions \(u(x,t)\) of the vibrating string equation with speed of propagation normalized to unity, and with the following boundary conditions, \[ u_{tt} - u_{xx} = 0\;\text{ in } 0<x<r(t),\qquad u(0,t) = 0,\;u \bigl( r(t),t \bigr) = 0, \] where \(r(t)\) satisfies \(r\in C^ 2[0,\infty)\), \(r\) has period \(T\), \(| r'(t) |<1\) for \(0 \leq t \leq T\). Note that we do not assume that \(T\) is the minimal period of \(r\). Our principal result describes the asymptotic behavior of solutions of this boundary value problem. If there are a finite number of reflected characteristics of period \(T\), then all finite energy solutions converge as \(t \to \infty\) to certain generalized solutions which can be described as square waves which travel back and forth, being reflected at the boundaries. These square waves do not have finite energy. Furthermore the energy of all finite energy solutions grows without bound as \(t \to \infty\).