Nonlinear internal damping of wave equations with variable coefficients (Q2577670)

The authors consider the boundary stabilization problem of wave equations with variable coefficients in a bounded domain \(\Omega \subset \mathbb{R}^n\) with a boundary \(\Gamma\) posessing some suitable smoothness conditions: \[ u_{tt}-\sum_{i,j=1}^n \frac{\partial u}{\partial x_i} \left( a_{ij}(x) \frac{\partial u}{\partial x_j}\right)+\chi_G(x) f(u_t)=0, \quad x \in \Omega, t>0, \] \[ u(x,t)=0, \quad x \in \Gamma, t>0, \] \[ u(x,0)=u_0(x), \quad u_t(x,0)=u_1(x), \] where the matrix \(a(x)=(a_{ij}(x))\) is \(C^\infty\) and positive definite on \(\mathbb{R}^n\) and satisfies the ellipticity condition, \(\chi_G(x)\) is the characteristic function of a subset \(G\) in \(\mathbb{R}^n\), and \(f(v)\) is a non-decreasing continuous function on \(\mathbb{R}\) such that \(f(0)=0\). Let \(p \geq 1\), and assume that \(f(v)\) satisfies \[ \exists C_1 | v |^p \leq | f(v) | \leq \exists C_2 | v |^{1/p}, \quad | v | \leq 1, \tag{F} \] \[ \exists C_1 | v | \leq | f(v) | \leq \exists C_2 | v |, \quad | v | \geq 1. \] They impose the geometrical conditions on \(\Omega\) and \(G\) which generalize the convexity condition from the differential geometric point of view whose examples of \((\Omega,G)\) are introduced in the authors' paper [Sci. China Ser. F 44, No. 4, 309--315 (2001; Zbl 1125.93379)]. Then employing the multiplier method, they prove the energy decay of finite energy solutions to (1)--(3): \[ E(t)\leq CE(0)(1+t)^{-2/(p-1)} \quad \text{for some \(C>0\) if \(p>1\)}, \] \[ E(t)\leq CE(0) \mathrm{e}^{-\lambda t} \quad \text{for some \(C,\lambda>0\) if \(p=1\),} \] where \[ E(t)=\frac12 \int_{\Omega} \left( u^{2}_{t}+\sum^{n}_{i,j=1} a_{ij}(x) \frac{\partial u}{\partial x_i}\frac{\partial u}{\partial x_j}\right) \, dx. \] Furthermore, they treat the more general nonlinearity removing \textbf{F}.