Item Details

title

Variational Methods for Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations

author

Tello, Carlos A.

abstract

The objective of this work is to explain some basic aspects of variational methods for solving a class of nonlinear partial differential equations. First, relevant mathematical background of functional analysis and variational calculus is explained. One of the main results discussed is the existence theorem for minimizer of functionals for the case of fixed boundary problems. This theorem assumes coercivity and lower semicontinuity conditions of the functional and the energy functional is defined over subsets of Sobolev spaces. After that, the technical concepts associated to this theorem are implemented to study some specific free boundary problems.

subject

free-boundary problems

lower semicontinuity

partial differential equations

Sobolev spaces

variational analysis

weak topology

contributor

Raynor, Sarah (committee chair)

Robinson, Stephen B (committee member)

Carmichael, Richard D (committee member)

date

2011-02-16T21:42:15Z (accessioned)

2011-02-16T21:42:15Z (available)

2010 (issued)

degree

Mathematics (discipline)

identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/30397 (uri)

language

en (iso)

publisher

Wake Forest University

type

Thesis