Time optimal control of the heat equation with pointwise control constraints

Abstract

Time optimal control problems for an internally controlled heat equation with pointwise control constraints are studied. By Pontryagin’s maximum principle and properties of nontrivial solutions of the heat equation, we derive a bang-bang property for time optimal control. Using the bang-bang property and establishing certain connections between time and norm optimal control problems for the heat equation, necessary and sufficient conditions for the optimal time and the optimal control are obtained.