Variational inequalities for a system of elliptic-parabolic equations (Q655452)

Let \(m,N \in {\mathbb{Z}}_+\), \(T> 0\), \(\Omega\) a bounded domain in \({\mathbb{R}}^N\) having Lipschitz boundary when \(N > 1\), let \(K(t)\) be a nonempty, closed, convex set in \(H^1 (\Omega)^m\) for all \(t \in [0, T]\), \(u_0 \in K(0)\), \(f \in W^{1,2} ([0, T]; L^2(\Omega)^m)\), \(b_0 \in L^2(\Omega)^m\); let \(A: \Omega \times {\mathbb{R}}^m \times {\mathbb{R}}^{Nm} \rightarrow {\mathbb{R}}\) be such that \(A(x,\cdot,\cdot): {\mathbb{R}}^m \times {\mathbb{R}}^{Nm} \rightarrow {\mathbb{R}}\) is continuous for a.e.\ \(x \in \Omega\) and \(A(\cdot, s, p): \Omega \rightarrow {\mathbb{R}}\) is measurable for any \(s \in {\mathbb{R}}^m\), \(p \in {\mathbb{R}}^{Nm}\), \(A(x, s, \cdot): {\mathbb{R}}^{Nm} \rightarrow {\mathbb{R}}\) is a \(C^1\) convex function; let \(a = \partial_3 A\) be such that \(a(x,\cdot,\cdot): {\mathbb{R}}^m \times {\mathbb{R}}^{Nm} \rightarrow {\mathbb{R}}^{Nm}\) is continuous for a.e.\ \(x \in \Omega\), \(a(\cdot, s, p): \Omega \rightarrow {\mathbb{R}}^{Nm}\) is measurable for any \(s \in {\mathbb{R}}^m\), \(p \in {\mathbb{R}}^{Nm}\); there exist \(C_1\), \(C_2 > 0\) such that \(|a(x, s, p)|^2 + |A(x, s, p)| + |\partial_2 A(x, s, p)|^2 \leq C_1 (1 + |s|^2 + |p|^2)\), \(A(x, s, p) \geq C_2 |p|^2\) for all \(x\in\Omega\), \(s\in{\mathbb{R}}^m\) and \(p\in{\mathbb{R}}^{Nm}\); let \(B: {\mathbb{R}}^m \rightarrow {\mathbb{R}}\) be a \(C^1\) convex function such that \(\nabla B\) is Lipschitz continuous; \(\nabla B (u_0) = b_0\); there is \(\alpha \in W^{1,2} ([0, T])\) such that, for any \(s, t \in [0, T]\), \(w \in L^2 (\Omega)^m\) and \(z \in K(s)\), there exists \(\tilde{z} \in K(t)\) for which \(|\tilde{z} - z|_{H^1 (\Omega)^m} \leq |\alpha(t) - \alpha(s)|(1 + |z|_{H^1 (\Omega)^m})\) and \(\int_\Omega A(\cdot, w, \nabla \tilde{z}) \,dx - \int_\Omega A(\cdot, w, \nabla z) \,dx \leq |\alpha(t) - \alpha(s)|(1 + |z|^2_{H^1 (\Omega)^m} + |w|_{L^2 (\Omega)^m} |z|_{H^1 (\Omega)^m} + |w|_{L^2 (\Omega)^m})\); there is \(C_3 > 0\) such that \(|z|_{H^1 (\Omega)^m} \leq C_3 (1 + |\nabla z|_{L^2(\Omega)^m})\) for all \(z \in K(t)\) and \(t \in [0, T]\). Theorem. There is at least one \(u \in L^ \infty ([0, T]; H^1 (\Omega)^m)\) such that \(\nabla B \circ u \in W^{1,2}([0, T]; L^2(\Omega)^m)\), \(\nabla B \circ u(0) = b_0\) in \(L^2(\Omega)^m\); \(u(t) \in K(t)\) for a.e.\ \(t \in\, ]0, T[\); \(\langle(\nabla B \circ u)'(t), u(t) - v\rangle_{L^2(\Omega)^m} + \int_ \Omega a(\cdot, \nabla B \circ u(t),\nabla u(t))\cdot \nabla(u(t) - v)\, dx \leq \langle f(t), u(t) - v\rangle_{L^2(\Omega)^m}\) for a.e.\ \(t \in\, ]0, T[\) and for all \(v \in K(t)\). Moreover, the authors give some applications of this theorem to variational inequalities for systems of elliptic-parabolic PDEs: an initial boundary value problem for a system of quasilinear elliptic-parabolic equations with Signorini-Dirichlet-Neumann boundary conditions and interior obstacle problems with time-dependent Gibbs simplex and double obstacle.