On a singular perturbation problem for a class of variational inequalities (Q2427611)

The authors study the asymptotic behaviour of a degenerate singular perturbation problem for a class of variational inequalities depending on positive parameter \(\varepsilon\), namely: \(u_{\varepsilon}\in K\) and \(\int_{\Omega}[\varepsilon A(x,\varepsilon u_{\varepsilon})\nabla u_{\varepsilon}\cdot\nabla (v-u_{\varepsilon})+a u_{\varepsilon}(v-u_{\varepsilon})]\,dx \;\geq\;\langle f,v-u_{\varepsilon}\rangle\) for all \(v\in K\), where \(K\) is a nonempty closed and convex subset of \(H^1(\Omega)\), \(f\in (H^1(\Omega))^*\) and \(\Omega\) is a bounded subset of \(\mathbb R^n\), \(n\geq 1\). Using the Schauder fixed point theorem, an existence result is proved. Under some additional assumptions on the data, also a uniqueness result is obtained. Next, the asymptotic behaviour of the solutions \(u_{\varepsilon}\) when \(\varepsilon\rightarrow 0\) is studied. Finally, some particular cases and examples are shown: the case of bounded \(K\), the case of a vector space, the case of an obstacle problem and finally, the one-dimensional case. It is also mentioned a possible application of the studied situation to the model of a slow steady diffusion of a colony of bacteria.