Well-posedness and stability of a semilinear Mindlin-Timoshenko plate model

"Well-posedness and stability of a semilinear Mindlin-Timoshenko plate model" I will discuss well-posedness and long-time behavior of Mindlin-Timoshenko plate equations that describe vibrations of thin plates. This system of partial differential equations was derived by R. Mindlin in 1951 (though E. Reissner also considered an analogous model earlier in 1945). It can be regarded as a generalization of the Timoshenko beam model (1937) to flat plates, and is more accurate than the classical Kirchhoff-Love plate theory (1888) because it accounts for shear deformations. I will present a semilinear version of the Mindlin-Timoshenko system. The primary feature of this model is the interplay between nonlinear frictional forces (" damping) and nonlinear source terms. The sources may represent restoring forces, such as (nonlinear refinement on) Hooke's law, but may also have a destabilizing effect amplifying the total energy of the system, which is the primary scenario of interest. The dissertation verifies local-in-time existence of solutions to this PDE system, as well as their continuous dependence on the initial data in appropriate function spaces. The global-in-time existence follows when the dissipative frictional effects dominate the sources. In addition, a potential well theory is developed for this problem. It allows us to identify sets of initial conditions for which global existence follows without balancing of the damping and sources, and sets of initial conditions for which solutions can be proven to develop singularities in finite time. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my special appreciation and thanks to my advisors: Professor Mohammad A. Rammaha and Professor Daniel Toundykov, who have been tremendous mentors for me. I would like to thank them for encouraging my research and for allowing me to grow as a research scientist. Their advice on both research as well as on my career has been priceless. I would also like to thank Professors George Avalos, Mathew Dwyer, and Mikil Foss for serving as my committee members and dissertation readers. I also want to thank them for letting my defense be an enjoyable moment, and for their brilliant comments and suggestions. A special thanks to my family. Words cannot express how grateful I am to my parents and grandparents for all of the sacrifices that you've made on my behalf. Your support for me was what sustained me thus far. I would also like to thank my best friend Mu-wan Huang who supported me and encouraged me to strive towards my …