Clamped biharmonic problem 2026-10-06
The clamped problem uses the weak solution identity for every in the clamped second-order Sobolev space. For , the clamped Hessian identity and the Poincare inequality make this a bounded coercive bilinear form. The Lax-Milgram theorem gives a unique weak solution without a mean-zero condition on .
Clamped second-order Sobolev space 2026-10-06
This is the closure of the compactly supported test functions in the norm. On a smooth bounded domain it consists precisely of the functions with zero value and zero normal derivative traces. Tangential first derivatives then vanish as well. The clamped Hessian identity makes the Laplacian norm equivalent to the full norm on this space, enabling a Lax-Milgram theorem treatment of the clamped biharmonic problem.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 5 3 b iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
For , two integrations by parts give the clamped Hessian identityBy density it remains valid on . Each has zero integral, first for compactly supported test functions and then by convergence. Applying the Neumann-Poincare inequality to each givesThe zero-boundary Poincare inequality also gives . Hence, using a full-Hessian equivalent norm,Thus is an inner product whose norm is equivalent to the complete norm on the clamped second-order Sobolev space. The functional is bounded for this norm by the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality and the displayed bound. Apply the Riesz representation theorem, or the Lax-Milgram theorem, to get a unique representing . The clamped biharmonic problem has a unique weak solution for every , with and no zero-integral compatibility condition.