A uniqueness theorem for the Chaplygin-Frankl problem

Abstract

In a paper dealing with trans-sonic jet flows Frankl (Bull. Acad. Sci. URSS Sér. Math. [Izv. Akad. Nauk SSSE] 9 (1945), 121–143) considered the following problem (T) by applying the conditionwhere k = k(y) is a monotone increasing function with a continuous second derivative, k(0) = 0, F(0) > 0, k′(y) ≠ 0 for y < 0. Consider an equation of the formwhich is elliptic for y > 0, hyperbolic for y < 0, and parabolic for y = 0. Consider equation (2) in a bounded simply connected region D ⊂ R2 which is bounded by the following three curves: a piecewise smooth curve Γ0 lying in the half-plane y > 0 which intersects the line y = 0 at the points A(0, 0) and B(l, 0); for y < 0 by a smooth curve Γ2 through B which meets the characteristic of (2) issuing from A(0, 0) at the point P; and the curve Γ1 which consists of the portion PA of the characteristic through A. The problem (T) (or problem of Tricomi-Frankl) consists of finding a solution u = u(x, y) ∈ C2(D) assuming prescribed values on Γ0 ∪ Γ2. In the present paper we generalize Frankl's uniqueness theorem; our uniqueness theorem includes cases where F(y) may be negative.