On optimal boundary control of Ericksen–Leslie system in dimension two

Abstract

In this paper, we consider the boundary value problem of a simplified Ericksen-Leslie system in dimension two with non-slip boundary condition for the velocity field $u$ and time-dependent boundary condition for the director field $d$ of unit length. For such a system, we first establish the existence of a global weak solution that is smooth away from finitely many singular times, then establish the existence of a unique global strong solution that is smooth for $t>0$ under the assumption that the image of boundary data is contained in the hemisphere $\mathbb S^2_+$. Finally, we apply these theorems to the problem of optimal boundary control of the simplified Ericksen-Leslie system and show both the existence and a necessary condition of an optimal boundary control.