Shape optimization of mechanical devices is investigated in the context of large, geometrically strongly nonlinear deformations and nonlinear hyperelastic constitutive laws. A weighted sum of the structure compliance, its weight, and its surface area are minimized. The resulting nonlinear elastic optimization problem differs significantly from classical shape optimization in linearized elasticity. Indeed, there exist different definitions for the compliance: the change in potential energy of the...

Shape optimization of mechanical devices is investigated in the context of large, geometrically strongly nonlinear deformations and nonlinear hyperelastic constitutive laws. A weighted sum of the structure compliance, its weight, and its surface area are minimized. The resulting nonlinear elastic optimization problem differs significantly from classical shape optimization in linearized elasticity. Indeed, there exist different definitions for the compliance: the change in potential energy of the...

We consider a mathematical model which describes the static frictional contact between a piezoelectric body and an insulator foundation. We use a nonlinear electroelastic constitutive law to model the piezoelectric material and the normal compliance condition associated to a version of Coulomb's friction law to model the contact. We derive a variational formulation for the model which is in the form of a coupled system involving the displacement and the electric potential fields. Then we provide...

We give an example of a fourth degree polynomial which does not satisfy Rolle’s Theorem in the unit ball of $l_2$.

Motivated by the pricing of American options for baskets we consider a parabolic variational inequality in a bounded polyhedral domain $\Omega \subset {ℝ}^d$ with a continuous piecewise smooth obstacle. We formulate a fully discrete method by using piecewise linear finite elements in space and the backward Euler method in time. We define an a posteriori error estimator and show that it gives an upper bound for the error in L2(0,T;H1(Ω)). The error estimator is localized in the sense that the size of the elliptic residual...

We examine an elliptic optimal control problem with control and state constraints in ℝ3. An improved error estimate of 𝒪(hs) with 3/4 ≤ s ≤ 1 − ε is proven for a discretisation involving piecewise constant functions for the control and piecewise linear for the state. The derived order of convergence is illustrated by a numerical example.

We examine an elliptic optimal control problem with control and state constraints in ℝ3. An improved error estimate of 𝒪(hs) with 3/4 ≤ s ≤ 1 − ε is proven for a discretisation involving piecewise constant functions for the control and piecewise linear for the state. The derived order of convergence is illustrated by a numerical example.

We examine an elliptic optimal control problem with control and state constraints in ℝ3. An improved error estimate of 𝒪(hs) with 3/4 ≤ s ≤ 1 − ε is proven for a discretisation involving piecewise constant functions for the control and piecewise linear for the state. The derived order of convergence is illustrated by a numerical example.

We consider a mathematical model which describes a contact problem between a deformable body and a foundation. The contact is bilateral and is modelled with Tresca's friction law in which adhesion is taken into account. The evolution of the bonding field is described by a first order differential equation and the material's behavior is modelled with a nonlinear viscoelastic constitutive law. We derive a variational formulation of the mechanical problem and prove the existence and uniqueness result...

We consider a mathematical model which describes the contact between a deformable body and a foundation. The contact is frictional and is modelled by a version of normal compliance condition and the associated Coulomb's law of dry friction in which adhesion of contact surfaces is taken into account. The evolution of the bonding field is described by a first order differential equation and the material's behaviour is modelled by a nonlinear viscoelastic constitutive law. We derive a variational formulation...

We consider a mathematical model of a quasistatic contact between an elastic body and an obstacle. The contact is modelled with unilateral constraint and normal compliance, associated to a version of Coulomb's law of dry friction where the coefficient of friction depends on the slip displacement. We present a weak formulation of the problem and establish an existence result. The proofs employ a time-discretization method, compactness and lower semicontinuity arguments.

We consider a quasistatic contact problem between a linear elastic body and a foundation. The contact is modelled with the Signorini condition and the associated non-local Coulomb friction law in which the adhesion of the contact surfaces is taken into account. The evolution of the bonding field is described by a first order differential equation. We derive a variational formulation of the mechanical problem and prove existence of a weak solution if the friction coefficient is sufficiently small....

Existence of a solution to the quasi-variational inequality problem arising in a model for sand surface evolution has been an open problem for a long time. Another long-standing open problem concerns determining the dual variable, the flux of sand pouring down the evolving sand surface, which is also of practical interest in a variety of applications of this model. Previously, these problems were solved for the special case in which the inequality is simply variational. Here, we introduce a regularized...

We study the Landau-Lifshitz model for the energy of multi-scale transition layers – called “domain walls” – in soft ferromagnetic films. Domain walls separate domains of constant magnetization vectors $m_{\alpha }^{\pm }\in {𝕊}^2$ that differ by an angle $2\alpha$. Assuming translation invariance tangential to the wall, our main result is the rigorous derivation of a reduced model for the energy of the optimal transition layer, which in a certain parameter regime confirms the experimental, numerical and physical predictions: The...

In this paper we prove a regularity result for local minimizers of functionals of the Calculus of Variations of the type$${\int }_{\Omega }f(x,Du)\mathrm{d}x$$where Ω is a bounded open set in ${ℝ}^n$, u∈$W_{\mathrm{loc}}^{1,p}$(Ω; ${ℝ}^N$), p> 1, n≥ 2 and N≥ 1. We use the technique of difference quotient without the usual assumption on the growth of the second derivatives of the function f. We apply this result to give a bound on the Hausdorff dimension of the singular set of minimizers.

Let $L:{ℝ}^N\times {ℝ}^N\to ℝ$ be a borelian function and consider the following problems$$inf\left\{F\left(y\right)={\int }_a^{b}L(y\left(t\right),y^{\text{'}}\left(t\right))\mathrm{d}t:y\in AC([a,b],{ℝ}^N),y\left(a\right)=A,y\left(b\right)=B\right\}\left(P\right)$$$$inf\left\{F^{...}\right\}$$