Partial differential equations. An application-oriented introduction (Q5891240)

The book consists of eight chapters, each 50--80 pages long, the contents of which I shall briefly sketch. { Chapter I: Introduction and Foundations.} After discussing some modelling issues one starts with discussing some elementary properties of some basic (Laplace, heat, wave) partial differential equations. Moreover, some basic functional analytic topics like Sobolev spaces, dual spaces, weak convergence and local compactness are introduced. { Chapter II: Linear elliptic equations.} Here one finds a nice mix of classical methods (maximum principles, representation formulas, Green functions, Perron's method) and functional analytic \(L^2\)-methods (variational approach, Lax-Milgram, spectral decomposition theorem). { Chapter III: Linear time dependent equations.} The focus is on parabolic equations and a similar remark as concerning the previous chapter applies. Here and in what follows discretisation methods are repeatedly used in order to prove existence results. { Chapter IV: Variational methods.} Direct methods and the importance of convexity resp. lower semicontinuity are emphasised. A nice section on the Legendre-Fenchel transform and subdifferentials is also included. { Chapter V: Fixed point theorems, monotone operators.} Among the topics covered in this chapter are the fixed point theorems by Banach, Brouwer and Schauder, applications to semilinear elliptic and parabolic equations, monotone operators, variational inequalities, modelling aspects in porous media equations, and the ground water problem under various boundary conditions as a first free boundary problem. { Chapter VI: Nonlinear evolution equations.} By means of discretisation methods, weak solutions to initial boundary value problems for porous media type equations are constructed. Moreover, uniqueness, regularity and stability issues are discussed. { Chapter VII: Fluid dynamics.} Several aspects of ideal and viscous fluids are discussed, with respect to linear as well as to nonlinear models. At the beginning classical issues like potential flows, the Kutta-Joukowski and Blasius formulae for buoyancy and stream lines for flows around specific obstacles are deduced. Existence und uniqueness results for the stationary and time dependent Stokes equations together with requisite functional analytic results (e.g. Helmholtz decomposition) follow. At the end, initial boundary value problems in three space dimensions for the Euler and Navier-Stokes equations are investigated. Local strong solutions and, for the Navier Stokes equations, global weak solutions are constructed; the latter again by means of approximation (Galerkin) methods. { Chapter VIII: Mechanics of solids.} After discussing modelling issues (stress and strain tensors, symmetric gradient, aspects of frame indifference), some topics from linear elasticity (Korn's inequality, existence results for the elliptic and hyperbolic systems under boundary conditions), nonlinear elasticity (critical points of quasiconvex functionals) and plasticity (von Mises plasticity, rate-independent systems, hysteresis, quasistationary evolution) are treated. The book starts at a relatively elementary level (2nd or 3rd year) and ends on a rather advanced level (4th year). It provides enough interesting material for a series of three or four courses. At the end the students are well prepared for beginning research in this area. The author's personal preferences become particularly obvious in the last three chapters; which I and presumably many other readers really appreciate. I am not aware of any general PDE text book which also includes this material. The author does not aim at largest possible generality but at giving a quick and direct introduction to interesting and (as far as the second half of the book is concerned) current topics. This very informative and substantial book is suitable for the students' individual reading as well as a basis for teachers, preparing seminars and lectures on PDEs.