On variational–hemivariational inequalities in Banach spaces

Abstract

This paper is devoted to a well-posedness analysis of elliptic variational–hemivariational inequalities in Banach spaces. The differential operator associated with the variational–hemivariational inequality is assumed to be strongly monotone of a general order, in contrast to that in the majority of existing references on this subject where the differential operator is assumed to be strongly monotone of order 2. Moreover, the solution existence is proved with an approach more accessible to applied mathematicians and engineers, instead of through an abstract surjectivity result for pseudomonotone operators in existing references. Equivalent minimization principles are established for certain variational–hemivariational inequalities, which are valuable for developing efficient numerical algorithms. The theoretical results are applied to the analysis of a mixed hemivariational inequality in the study of a generalized Newtonian fluid flow problem involving a nonsmooth slip boundary condition of friction type. Existence and uniqueness of both the velocity and pressure unknowns are shown for the mixed hemivariational inequalities.