Optimal energy decay rates for viscoelastic wave equations with nonlinearity of variable exponent

Abstract

In this article, we consider the viscoelastic wave equation $$ u_{tt}-\Delta u+\int_0^{t}g(t-s)\Delta u(s)ds+a| u_t| ^{m(\cdot )-2}u_t=0 $$ with a nonlinear feedback having a variable exponent \(m(x)\). We investigate the interaction between the two types of damping and establish an optimal decay result under very general assumptions on the relaxation function \(g\). We construct explicit formulae which provide faster energy decay rates than the ones already existing in the literature. For more information see https://ejde.math.txstate.edu/Volumes/2023/53/abstr.html