A new approach to the stabilization of a fluid–structure interaction model

Abstract

This article is a continuation of our work on a linear fluid–structure interaction model [Grobbelaar-Van Dalsen, On a fluid–structure model in which the dynamics of the structure involves the shear stress due to the fluid, J. Math. Fluid Mech. 10(3) (2008), pp. 388–401; Grobbelaar-Van Dalsen, Strong stability for a fluid––structure model, Math. Methods Appl. Sci., 32(2009) pp. 1452–1466]. The model describes the interaction between a 3-D incompressible fluid and a 2-D plate, the interface, which coincides with a flat flexible part of the surface of the vessel containing the fluid. The mathematical model comprises the Stokes equations and the equations for the longitudinal deflections of the plate with the inclusion of the shear stress that the fluid exerts on the plate. A dissipative damping mechanism of Kelvin–Voigt type is applied to the interior of the plate. While our earlier work shows that weak solutions in a space of finite energy are strongly asymptotically stable under no-slip transmission conditions at the interface with uniform exponential stability only attainable under an additional domination condition, the present research is directed at achieving uniform exponential stability of weak solutions without imposing the domination condition. Using energy methods we establish uniform exponential decay under a modified transmission condition at the interface. This condition entails that the fluid velocity at the interface is coupled to a linear combination of the plate velocity and displacement.