On a nonlinear variant of the beam equation with Wentzell boundary conditions. (Q976581)

A mathematical model for the transverse deflection of an extensible beam whose ends are held at fixed distance apart is studied. The basic PDE is a nonlinear beam-like equation \[ u_{tt}+\alpha\Delta^ 2u-\left(\rho+k\int_{\Omega}| \nabla u| ^2\, dx +k\int_{\partial\Omega}| \nabla u| ^{2}\, dS/\beta\right)\Delta u=0 \] subject to the generalized Wentzell boundary condition \[ \Delta u+\beta\frac{\partial u}{\partial n}+\gamma u=0, \quad\Delta^2u+\beta\frac{\partial}{\partial n}\Delta u+\gamma\Delta u=0 \quad\text{on}\;\partial\Omega, \] where \(\Omega\) is a bounded domain in \({\mathbb R}^{n}\) with smooth boundary \(\partial\Omega\), \(k\), \(\alpha\), \(\beta\), \(\gamma\) are positive constants, and \(\rho\in{\mathbb R}\). The global existence of weak solutions and uniqueness is established.