A mixed problem of linear elastodynamics (Q358599)

The author studies the following initial boundary value problem of linear elastodynamics. \[ \begin{cases}\frac{\partial^2 u}{\partial t^2} - \mathrm{div}(a(x) \cdot \nabla u) = f \qquad &\text{in } \Omega \times (0,\infty),\\ u(0) = u_0 \qquad &\text{in } \Omega,\\ \frac{\partial u}{\partial t}(0) = u_1 \qquad &\text{in } \Omega,\\ \alpha(x)(a(x) \cdot \nabla u \cdot n) + (1-\alpha(x))u = 0 \qquad &\text{on } \partial \Omega \times (0, \infty).\end{cases} \] Here \(\Omega\) is an open, connected subset of \(\mathbb R^n\) with smooth boundary for \(n \geq 2\), \(a(x) = (a_{ijlm}(x))\) is a smooth elasticity tensor, \(\alpha(x)\) is a smooth function on \(\partial \Omega\) with \(0 \leq \alpha(x) \leq 1\). Here the case of \(\alpha(x) \equiv 1\) which corresponds to pure traction boundary conditions is excluded. The difficulty in the treatment of the above problem lies in the boundary condition which is a smooth convex combination of displacement and traction boundary conditions. In particular, \(\alpha(x)\) is allowed to vanish in certain points \(x \in \partial \Omega\) of the boundary in which the Lopatinskii-Shapiro condition is violated. In the article the problem is seen as an abstract Cauchy problem and is then studied via semigroup theory. Under a symmetry assumption and a uniform pointwise stability assumption on the elasticity tensor \(a(x)\) it is then shown that a realization of the differential operator \(\mathrm{div}(a(x) \cdot \nabla u)\) with the above boundary conditions is a negative definite, self-adjoint operator \(\mathfrak{A}\) in the Hilbert space \(L^2(\Omega, \mathbb R^n)\). The square root \(\mathfrak{C} = \sqrt{-\mathfrak{A}}\) then allows an explicit representation of the unique solution of the problem. Further, the regularity of the solutions is studied and an energy inequality for the solution is proven.