Weak And Variational Methods For Moving Boundary Problems

Here is a wide-ranging, comprehensive account of the mathematical formulation of problems involving free boundaries as they occur in such diverse areas as hydrology, metallurgy, chemical engineering, soil science, molecular biology, materials science, and steel and glass production. Many newmethods of solution are discussed, including modern computer techniques which address multidimensional, multiphase practical problems.

Variational methods and their generalizations have been verified to be useful tools in proving the existence of solutions to a variety of boundary value problems for ordinary, impulsive, and partial differential equations as well as for difference equations. In this monograph, we look at how variational methods can be used in all these settings. In our first chapter, we gather the basic notions and fundamental theorems that will be applied in the remainder of this monograph. While many of these items are easily available in the literature, we gather them here both for the convenience of the reader and for the purpose of making this volume somewhat self-contained. Subsequent chapters deal with the Sturm-Liouville problems, multi-point boundary value problems, problems with impulses, partial differential equations, and difference equations. An extensive bibliography is also included.

This IMA Volume in Mathematics and its Applications VARIATIONAL AND FREE BOUNDARY PROBLEMS is based on the proceedings of a workshop which was an integral part of the 1990- 91 IMA program on "Phase Transitions and Free Boundaries. " The aim of the workshop was to highlight new methods, directions and problems in variational and free boundary theory, with a concentration on novel applications of variational methods to applied problems. We thank R. Fosdick, M. E. Gurtin, W. -M. Ni and L. A. Peletier for organizing the year-long program and, especially, J. Sprock for co-organizing the meeting and co-editing these proceedings. We also take this opportunity to thank the National Science Foundation whose financial support made the workshop possible. Avner Friedman Willard Miller, Jr. PREFACE In a free boundary one seeks to find a solution u to a partial differential equation in a domain, a part r of its boundary of which is unknown. Thus both u and r must be determined. In addition to the standard boundary conditions on the un known domain, an additional condition must be prescribed on the free boundary. A classical example is the Stefan problem of melting of ice; here the temperature sat isfies the heat equation in the water region, and yet this region itself (or rather the ice-water interface) is unknown and must be determined together with the tempera ture within the water. Some free boundary problems lend themselves to variational formulation.