mathematics

Article
Exponential Energy Decay of Solutions for
a Transmission Problem With Viscoelastic Term
and Delay
Danhua Wang *, Gang Li and Biqing Zhu
College of Mathematics and Statistics, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology,
Nanjing 210044, China; ligang@nuist.edu.cn (G.L.); brucechu@163.com (B.Z.)
* Correspondence: matdhwang@yeah.net; Tel.: +86-25-5873-1160

Academic Editors: Reza Abedi and Indranil SenGupta

Received: 7 January 2016; Accepted: 6 June 2016; Published: 9 June 2016

Abstract: In our previous work (Journal of Nonlinear Science and Applications 9: 1202–1215, 2016),
we studied the well-posedness and general decay rate for a transmission problem in a bounded
domain with a viscoelastic term and a delay term. In this paper, we continue to study the similar
problem but without the frictional damping term. The main difficulty arises since we have no
frictional damping term to control the delay term in the estimate of the energy decay. By introducing
suitable energy and Lyapunov functionals, we establish an exponential decay result for the energy.

Keywords: wave equation; transmission problem; exponential decay; viscoelastic; delay

MSC: AMS Subject Classification (2000): 35B37, 35L55, 93D15, 93D20

1. Introduction
In our previous work [1], we considered the following transmission system with a viscoelastic
term and a delay term:
8 Z t
>
> utt ( x, t) au xx ( x, t) + g(t s)u xx ( x, s)ds
>
>
< 0
+µ1 ut ( x, t) + µ2 ut ( x, t t ) = 0, ( x, t) 2 W ⇥ (0, +•) (1)
>
>
>
>
:
vtt ( x, t) bv xx ( x, t) = 0, ( x, t) 2 ( L1 , L2 ) ⇥ (0, +•)

where 0 < L1 < L2 < L3 , W = (0, L1 ) [ ( L2 , L3 ), a, b, µ1 , µ2 are positive constants, and t > 0 is the
delay. In that work, we first proved the well-posedness by using the Faedo–Galerkin approximations
together with some energy estimates when µ2  µ1 . Then, a general decay rate result was established
under the hypothesis that µ2 < µ1 . As for the previous results and developments of transmission
problems, and the research of wave equations with viscoelastic damping or time delay effects, we have
stated and summarized in great detail in our previous work [1], thus we just omit it here. The readers,
for a better understanding of present work, are strongly recommended to [1] and the reference therein
(see [2–33]).
It is worth pointing out that, in our previous work, the assumption “µ2 < µ1 " plays an important
role in the proof of the above-mentioned general decay result. In this paper, we intend to investigate

Mathematics 2016, 4, 42; doi:10.3390/math4020042 www.mdpi.com/journal/mathematics

Mathematics 2016, 4, 42 2 of 13

system (1) with µ1 = 0. That is, we study the exponential decay rate of the solutions for the following
transmission system with a viscoelastic term and a delay term but without the frictional damping:
8 Z t
>
> utt ( x, t) au xx ( x, t) + g(t s)u xx ( x, s)ds
>
>
< 0
+µ2 ut ( x, t t ) = 0, ( x, t) 2 W ⇥ (0, +•) (2)
>
>
>
>
:
vtt ( x, t) bv xx ( x, t) = 0, ( x, t) 2 ( L1 , L2 ) ⇥ (0, +•)

under the boundary and transmission conditions

8
>
> u(0, t) = u( L3 , t) = 0,
>
>
>
< u ( L , t ) = v ( L , t ),
i i i = 1, 2
(3)
>
> ✓ Z t ◆
>
>
>
: a g(s)ds u x ( Li , t) = bv x ( Li , t), i = 1, 2
0

and the initial conditions

8
> u( x, 0) = u0 ( x ), ut ( x, 0) = u1 ( x ),
> x2W
>
<
ut ( x, t t ) = f 0 ( x, t t ), x 2 W, t 2 [0, t ] (4)
>
>
>
:
v( x, 0) = v0 ( x ), vt ( x, 0) = v1 ( x ), x 2 ( L1 , L2 )

where µ2 is a real number, a, b are positive constants and u1 ( x ) = f 0 ( x, 0).

The main difficulty in dealing with this problem is that in the first equation of system (2), we have
no frictional damping term to control the delay term in the estimate of the energy decay. To overcome
this difficulty, our basic idea is to control the delay term by making use of the viscoelastic term. In order
to achieve this goal, a restriction of the size between the parameter µ2 and the relaxation function g and
a suitable energy is needed. This is motivated by Dai and Yang’s work [34], in which the viscoelastic
wave equation with delay term but without a frictional damping term was studied and an exponential
decay result was established. In the work here, we will establish an exponential decay rate result for
the energy.
The remaining part of this paper is organized as follows. In Section 2, we give some notations and
hypotheses needed for our work and state the main results. In Section 3, under some restrictions of µ2
(see (35) below), we prove the exponential decay of the solutions for the relaxation function satisfying
assumption ( H1 ) and ( H2 ).

2. Preliminaries and Main Results

In this section, we present some materials that shall be used in order to prove our main result.
Let us first introduce the following notations:
Z t
( g ⇤ h)(t) := g(t s)h(s)ds
0
Z t
( g ⇧ h)(t) := g(t s)(h(t) h(s))ds
0
Z t
( g⇤h)(t) := g(t s)| h(t) h(s)|2 ds
0
Mathematics 2016, 4, 42 3 of 13

We easily see that the above operators satisfy

✓Z t
◆
( g ⇤ h)(t) = g(s)ds h(t) ( g ⇧ h)(t)
0
✓Z t ◆
|( g ⇧ h)(t)|2  | g(s)|ds (| g|⇤h)(t)
0

Lemma 1. For any g, h 2 C1 (R), the following equation holds

⇢ ✓Z t
◆
d
2[ g ⇤ h ] h 0 = g 0 ⇤ h g(t)| h|2 g⇤ h g(s)ds | h|2
dt 0

For the relaxation function g, we assume

(H1) g: R+ ! R+ is a C1 function satisfying
Z •
g(0) > 0, b0 := a g(s)ds = a ḡ > 0
0

(H2) There exists a positive constant x satisfying x > x 0 > 0 (x 0 defined by (39) below) and

g0 (t)  xg(t), 8t 0

According to previous results in the literature (see [1]), we state the following well-posedness
result, which can be proved by using the Faedo–Galerkin method.

Theorem 2. Assume that ( H1) and ( H2) hold. Then, given (u0 , v0 ) 2 V , (u1 , v1 ) 2 L2 , and
f 0 2 L2 ((0, 1), H 1 (W)), Equations (2)–(4) have a unique weak solution in the following class:

(u, v) 2 C (0, •; V ) \ C1 (0, •; L2 )

where
⇢
V= (u, v) 2 H 1 (W) \ H 1 ( L1 , L2 ) : u(0, t) = u( L3 , 0) = 0, u( Li , t) = v( Li , t)
✓ Z t ◆
a g(s)ds u x ( Li , t) = bv x ( Li , t), i = 1, 2
0

and
L2 = L2 ( W ) ⇥ L2 ( L1 , L2 )
To state our decay result, we introduce the following energy functional:
Z ✓ Z t ◆Z Z
1 1 1
E(t) = u2t ( x, t)dx + a g(s)ds u2x ( x, t)dx + ( g⇤u x )dx
2 W 2 0 W 2 W
Z Z Z (5)
1 L2 h 2 i z t
+ vt ( x, t) + bv2x ( x, t) dx + es(s t) u2s (( x, s)dxds
2 L1 2 t t W
where s and z are positive constants to be determined later.

Remark 1. We note that the energy functional defined here is different from that of [1] in the
construction of the last term. This is motivated by the idea of [28], in which wave equations with time
dependent delay was studied.

Our decay results read as follows:

Mathematics 2016, 4, 42 4 of 13

Theorem 3. Let (u, v) be the solution of Equations (2)–(4). Assume that ( H1), ( H2) and

8( L2 L1 ) 8( L2 L1 )
a> b0 , b> b0 (6)
L1 + L3 L2 L1 + L3 L2

hold. Let a0 be the constants defined by (35) below. If |µ2 | < a0 , then there exists constants g1 , g2 > 0 such that

g1 x (t t0 )
E(t)  g2 e , t t0 (7)

3. Proof of Theorem 3
For the proof of Theorem 3, we use the following lemmas.

Lemma 4. Let (u, v) be the solution of Equations (2)–(4). Then, we have the inequality
Z ✓ ◆Z ✓ ◆Z
d 1 | µ2 | z 2 z st | µ2 |
E(t)  ( g ⇤u x )(t)dx +
0
+ ut ( x, t)dx e u2t ( x, t t )dx
dt 2 W 2 2 W 2 2 W
Z Z Z (8)
1 sz t
g(t) u2x ( x, t)dx e s(t s) u2s (( x, s)dxds
2 W 2 t t W

Proof. Differentiating (5) and using (2), we have

Z  ✓ Z t ◆ L2 Z
d 1
E(t) = ut utt + a g(s)ds u x u xt g(t)u2x dx + [vt vtt + bv x v xt ] dx
dt W 0 2 L1
Z t Z Z Z
1 z
+ g(t s) u xt (u x (t) u x (s))dxds + g ⇤u x dx +
0
u2 ( x, t)dx
0 W 2 W 2 W t
Z Z Z
z sz t
e st u2t ( x, t t )dx e s(t s) u2s ( x, s)dxds (9)
2 W 2 t t W
Z Z Z Z
1 1 z
= g0 ⇤u x dx g(t) u2x dx |µ2 | ut (t)ut (t t )dx + u2 ( x, t)dx
2 W 2 W W 2 W t
Z Z Z
z sz t
e st u2t ( x, t t )dx e s(t s) u2s ( x, s)dxds
2 W 2 t t W

By Cauchy inequalities, we get

Z ✓ ◆Z ✓ ◆Z
d 1 | µ2 | z 2 | µ2 | z
E(t)  ( g ⇤u x )(t)dx +
0
+ ut ( x, t)dx + e st
u2t ( x, t t )dx
dt 2 W 2 2 W 2 2 W
Z Z Z
1 sz t
g(t) u2x ( x, t)dx e s(t s) u2s (( x, s)dxds
2 W 2 t t W

The proof is complete.

Remark 2. In ([1]
✓ Lemma 4.1),◆ Z we proved that the energy functional defined in [1] is non-increasing.
| µ2 | z
However, since + u2t dx 0, E(t) may not be non-increasing here.
2 2 W

Now, we define the functional D (t) as follows:

Z Z L2
D (t) = uut dx + vvt dx
W L1

Then, we have the following estimate:

Mathematics 2016, 4, 42 5 of 13

Lemma 5. The functional D (t) satisfies

Z Z L2 ✓ ✓ Z t ◆◆ Z
d
D (t)  u2t dx + v2t dx + d1 |µ2 | L2 + d1 a g(s)ds u2x dx
dt W L1 0 W
Z t Z Z Z L2 (10)
1 | µ2 |
+ g(s)ds ( g⇤u x )dx + u2t ( x, t t )dx bv2x dx
4d1 0 W 4d1 W L1

Proof. Taking the derivative of D (t) with respect to t and using (2), we have
Z Z Z Z L2 Z L2
d
D (t) = u2t dx ( au x g ⇤ u x )u x dx |µ2 | ut ( x, t t )udx + v2t dx bv2x dx
dt W W W L1 L1
Z ✓ Z t ◆Z Z Z
= u2t dx a g(s)ds u2x dx ( g ⇧ u x )u x dx |µ2 | ut ( x, t t )udx (11)
W 0 W W W
Z L2 Z L2
+ v2t dx bv2x dx
L1 L1

By the boundary condition (3), we have

✓Z x
◆2 Z L
1
u2 ( x, t) = u x ( x, t)dx  L1 u2x ( x, t)dx, x 2 [0, L1 ]
0 0

Z L3
2
u ( x, t)  ( L3 L2 ) u2x ( x, t)dx, x 2 [ L2 , L3 ]
L2

which implies Z Z
u2 ( x, t)dx  L2 u2x dx, x2W (12)
W W

where L = max{ L1 , L3 L2 }. By exploiting Young’s inequality and (12), we get for any d1 > 0
Z Z Z
| µ2 |
| µ2 | ut ( x, t t )udx  u2t ( x, t t )dx + d1 |µ2 | L2 u x dx (13)
W 4d1 W W

Young’s inequality implies that

Z Z Z t Z
1
( g ⇧ u x )u x dx  d1 u2x dx + g(s)ds ( g⇤u x )dx (14)
W W 4d1 0 W

Inserting the estimates (13) and (14) into (11), then (10) is fulfilled. The proof is complete.

Now, as in Lemma 4.5 of [24], we introduce the function

8
> L1
>
>
> x , x 2 [0, L1 ]
>
> 2
<L L1 + L3 L2
1
q( x ) = ( x L1 ), x 2 ( L1 , L2 ) (15)
>
> 2 2( L2 L1 )
>
>
: x L2 + L3 ,
>
>
x 2 [ L2 , L3 ]
2
⇢
L1 L3 L2
It is easy to see that q( x ) is bounded, that is, |q( x )|  M, where M = max , is a
2 2
positive constant. In addition, we define the functionals:
Z Z L2
F1 ( t ) = q( x )ut ( au x g ⇤ u x )dx, F2 ( t ) = q( x )v x vt dx (16)
W L1

Then, we have the following estimates.

Mathematics 2016, 4, 42 6 of 13

Lemma 6. The functionals F1 (t) and F2 (t) satisfy

 ha i  Z
d q( x ) a M2
F (t)  ( au x g ⇤ u x )2 + q( x )u2t
u2t dx +
dt 1 2 ∂W 2 ∂W 2 4d 2 W
" ✓Z t ◆2 # Z
2 2 2 2
+ 2a + d2 M a |µ2 | + g (0)d2 + (4 + d2 |µ2 |) g(s)ds u2x dx
0 W
 (17)
Z
| µ | | µ | M2
+ d2 |µ2 | M + 2 + 2
2
u2t ( x, t t )dx
4d2 4d2 W
✓ ◆ ✓Z t ◆Z Z
|µ |
+ 4+ 2 g(s)ds ( g⇤u x )dx g(0)d2 ( g0 ⇤u x )dx
4d2 0 W W

and
✓Z L Z L2 ◆
d L1 + L3 L2 2 L L3 L2 2
F2 ( t )  v2t dx + bv2x dx + 1 v2t ( L1 ) + v t ( L2 )
dt 4( L2 L1 ) L1 L1 4 4
b⇣ ⌘
+ ( L3 L2 )v2x ( L2 , t) + L1 v2x ( L1 , t) (18)
4

Proof. Taking the derivative of F1 (t) with respect to t and using (2), we get
Z Z
d
F (t) = q( x )utt ( au x g ⇤ u x )dx q( x )ut au xt g(t)u x (t) + ( g0 ⇧ u x )(t) dx
dt 1 W W
 Z ha i
q( x ) 1
= ( au x g ⇤ u x )2 + q0 ( x )( au x g ⇤ u x )2 dx q( x )u2t
2 ∂W 2 W 2 ∂W
(19)
Z Z
a
+ q0 ( x )u2t dx q( x )|µ2 |ut ( x, t t )( g ⇤ u x )dx
2 W W
Z Z
+ q( x ) au x |µ2 |ut ( x, t t )dx q( x )ut [( g0 ⇧ u x )(t) g(t)u x ]dx
W W

We note that
Z
1
q0 ( x )( au x g ⇤ u x )2 dx
2 W
Z Z
2 a2 u2x dx + 2
( g ⇤ u x )2 dx
W W
Z Z ✓Z t ◆2 (20)
2 a2 u2x dx + 2 g(t s)(u x (s) u x (t) + u x (t))ds dx
W W 0
Z ✓Z t
◆2 Z ✓Z t
◆Z
2
2a u2x dx +4 g(s)ds u2x dx +4 g(s)ds ( g⇤u x )dx
W 0 W 0 W

Young’s inequality gives us for any d2 > 0,

Z Z Z
| µ2 |
q( x ) au x |µ2 |ut ( x, t t )dx  d2 M2 a2 |µ2 | u2x dx + u2t ( x, t t )dx (21)
W W 4d2 W
Z
q( x )|µ2 |ut ( x, t t )( g ⇤ u x )dx
W
Z Z t Z
=|µ2 | ( g ⇧ u x )q( x )ut ( x, t t )dx + |µ2 | g(s)dst )u x dx q( x )ut ( x, t
W 0 W
Z Z Z ✓Z t ◆2 Z (22)
| µ2 | t
d2 M2 |µ2 | u2t ( x, t t )dx + g(s)ds ( g⇤u x )dx + d2 |µ2 | g(s)ds u2x dx
W 4d2 0 W 0 W
2 Z
| µ2 |M
+ u2t ( x, t t )dx
4d2 W
Mathematics 2016, 4, 42 7 of 13

and
Z
q( x )ut [( g0 ⇧ u x )(t) g(t)u x ]dx
W
Z Z Z
M2
 u2t dx + g2 (0)d2 u2x dx g(0)d2 ( g0 ⇤u x )dx (23)
4d2 W W W

Inserting (20)–(23) into (19), we get (17).

By the same method, taking the derivative of F1 (t) with respect to t, we obtain
Z L2 Z L2
d
F2 ( t ) = q( x )v xt vt dx q( x )v x vtt dx
dt L1 L1
 L2 Z L2 Z L2  L2
1 1 1 b
= q( x )v2t + q0 ( x )v2t dx + bq0 ( x )v2x dx + q( x )v2x
2 L1 2 L1 1
2 L1 2 L
✓Z◆ L2 Z L2
L1 + L3 L2 L L 3 L 2 2
 v2t dx + bv2x dx + 1 v2t ( L1 ) + v t ( L2 )
4( L2 L1 ) L1 L1 4 4
b⇣ ⌘
+ ( L3 L2 )v2x ( L2 , t) + L1 v2x ( L1 , t)
4
Thus, the proof of Lemma 6 is finished.

In [1],
Z the authors pointed out that if µ2 < µ1 , then the energy is non-increasing. Thus, the negative
term u2t dx appeared in the derivative energy can be used to stabilize the system. However, in this
W Z
paper, the energy is not non-increasing. In this case, we need some additional negative term u2t dx.
W
For this purpose, let us introduce the functional
Z
F3 ( t ) = ut ( g ⇧ u)dx
W

Then, we have the following estimate.

Lemma 7. The functionals F3 (t) satisfies

✓Z ◆Z " ✓Z ◆2 # Z
d t a4 t
F3 ( t )  g(s)ds u2t ( x, t)dx + d4 + d4 g(s)ds u2x ( x, t)dx
dt 0 2 W 0 W
Z ✓ ◆Z Z
1 a2 | µ | L2 t
+ d4 |µ2 | u2t ( x, t t )dx + d4 + + + 2 g(s)ds ( g⇤u x )dx (24)
W 2d4 4d4 4d4 0 W
Z
g (0) L2
( g0 ⇤u x )dx
2a4 W

Proof. Taking the derivative of F3 (t) with respect to t and using (2), we get
Z Z t Z Z
d
F3 ( t ) = utt ( g ⇧ u)dx g(s)ds u2t ( x, t)dx ut ( g0 ⇧ u)dx
dt W 0 W W
Z ✓ Z t ◆
= au xx ( x, t) g(t s)u xx ( x, s)ds |µ2 |ut ( x, t t ) ( g ⇧ u)dx
W 0
Z t Z Z
g(s)ds u2t ( x, t)dx ut ( g0 ⇧ u)dx (25)
0 W W
Z ✓Z t ◆ Z
= g(t s)u x ( x, s)ds ( g ⇧ u x )dx + a u x ( g ⇧ u x )dx
W 0 W
Z Z t Z Z
+ | µ2 | ut ( x, t t )( g ⇧ u)dx g(s)ds u2t ( x, t)dx ut ( g0 ⇧ u)dx
W 0 W W
Mathematics 2016, 4, 42 8 of 13

Young’s inequality implies that for any d4 > 0:

Z ✓Z t ◆
g(t s)u x ( x, s)ds ( g ⇧ u x )dx
W 0
Z ✓Z t ◆2 Z
d4 1
 g(t s)(u x (t) u x (s) u x (t))ds dx + ( g ⇧ u x )2 dx
2 W 0 2d4 W
✓Z ◆2 Z ◆Z ✓ (26)
t 1
d4 g(s)ds u2x ( x, t)dx
+ d4 + ( g ⇧ u x )2 dx
0 W 2d4 W
✓Z t ◆2 Z ✓ ◆Z t Z
2 1
d4 g(s)ds u x ( x, t)dx + d4 + g(s)ds ( g⇤u x )dx
0 W 2d4 0 W

and Z Z Z t Z
a2
a u x ( g ⇧ u x )dx  d4 u2x ( x, t)dx + g(s)ds ( g⇤u x )dx (27)
W W 4d4 0 W

By Young’s inequality and (12), we get for any d4 > 0, a1 > 0

Z Z Z t Z
| µ2 | L2
| µ2 | ut ( x, t t )( g ⇧ u)dx  d4 |µ2 | u2t ( x, t t )dx + g(s)ds ( g⇤u x )dx (28)
W W 4d4 0 W

and
Z Z t Z Z
a4 1
ut ( g0 ⇧ u)dx  u2x ( x, t)dx + ( g0 (s))ds ( g0 ⇤u)dx
W 2 W 2a4 0 W
Z 2 Z
a g (0) L
 4 u2 ( x, t)dx ( g0 ⇤u x )dx (29)
2 W x 2a4 W

Inserting (26)–(29) into (25), we get (24).

Now, we are ready to prove Theorem 3.

Proof. We define the Lyapunov functional:

L(t) = N1 E(t) + N2 D (t) + F1 (t) + N4 F2 (t) + N5 F3 (t) (30)

where N1 , N2 , N4 and N5 are positive constants that will be fixed later.

Since g is continuous and g(0) > 0, then for any t t0 > 0, we obtain
Z t Z t0
g(s)ds g(s)ds = g0 (31)
0 0
Mathematics 2016, 4, 42 9 of 13

Taking the derivative of (30) with respect to t and making the use of the above lemmas, we have
⇢ ⇣ ✓ ◆ ✓ ◆ Z
d a4 ⌘ | µ2 | z a M2
L(t)  N5 g0 N1 + N2 + u2t dx
dt 2 2 2 2 4d2 W
{ N2 b 0 N2 (d1 + L2 d1 |µ2 |) (2a2 + 4 ḡ2 + d2 |µ2 | ḡ2 + d2 M2 a2 |µ2 | + g2 (0)d2 )
Z
N5 (d4 + d4 ḡ2 )} u2x dx
W
⇢ ✓ ◆ ✓ ◆ Z
|µ2 | z st N |µ | |µ |(1 + M2 )
+ N1 e + 2 2 + d2 |µ2 | M2 + 2 + N5 d4 |µ2 | u2t ( x, t t )dx
2 2 4d1 4d2 W
⇢ Z L2 ⇢ Z L2
b ( L1 + L3 L2 ) L1 + L3 L2 (32)
N4 + N2 b v2x dx N4 N2 v2t dx
4( L2 L1 ) L1 4( L2 L1 ) L1

b⇣ ⌘ L L L2 2
(b N4 ) ( L3 L2 )v2x ( L2 , t) + L1 v2x ( L1 , t) ( a N4 ) 1 v2t ( L1 , t) + 3 v t ( L2 , t )
4 4 4
 ✓ ◆ ✓ ◆ Z
N2 ḡ |µ | ḡ 1 ( a2 + | µ2 | L2 )
+ + 4 ḡ + 2 + N5 d4 + + ḡ ( g⇤u x )dx
4d1 4d2 2d4 4d4 W
 Z
N1 N5 g(0) L2
+ g(0)d2 ( g0 ⇤u x )dx
2 2a4 W

At this moment, we wish all coefficients except the last two in (32) will be negative. We want to
choose N2 and N4 to ensure that
8
>
> a N4 0
>
>
>
< b N
4 0
(33)
>
>
>
> L1 + L3 L2 N
>
: N2 > 0
4( L2 L1 ) 4

8l ( L2 L1 )
For this purpose, since < min{ a, b}, we first choose N4 satisfying
L1 + L3 L2

8l ( L2 L1 )
< N4  min{ a, b}
L1 + L3 L2

Then, we pick
b0 1
a 4 = g0 , d1 < and d2 <
8 g2 (0)
such that ⇣ a4 ⌘ N g 7N2 b 0
N5 g0 = 5 0, N2 b 0 N2 d1 > , and g2 (0)d2 < 1
2 2 8
Once d2 is fixed, we take N2 satisfying

8(2a2 + 4 ḡ + g2 (0)d2 )
N2 >
b0

such that
N2 b 0
(2a2 + 4 ḡ + g2 (0)d2 ) <
8
Furthermore, we choose N5 satisfying

N5 g0 a M2
> N2 + +
8 2 4d2

such that
✓ ◆
N5 b 0 a N b M2 N b N5 g0 a M2
N2 < , < 5 0, < 5 0 and N2 + >0
8 2 8 4d2 8 8 2 4d2
Mathematics 2016, 4, 42 10 of 13

Then, we pick d4 satisfying

b 0 N2
d4 <
8N5 (1 + ḡ2 )
such that
N2 b 0
N5 (d4 + d4 ḡ2 ) <
8
Once the above constants are fixed, we choose N1 satisfying

N1 N g (0) L2
> g(0)d2 + 5
2 2a4

Now, we need to choose suitable |µ2 | and z such that

8 ✓ ◆
>
> | µ2 | z
>
> K1 N1 + >0
>
> 2 2
>
>
< 5b N
0 2
K2 | µ 2 | > 0 (34)
>
> 8
>
>
>
>
>
: K3 |µ2 | N1 z e st < 0
>
2 2
where
✓ ◆
N5 g0 a M2
K1 = N2 + , K2 = N2 d1 L2 + d2 ḡ2 + d2 M2 a2
8 2 4d2
N2 1 M2
K3 = N1 + + 2d2 M2 + + + 2N5 d4
2d1 2d2 2d2

We first choose z satisfying

2K1
z>0
N1
Then, we pick |µ2 | satisfying
⇢
5b 0 N2 N1 z 2K1
|µ2 | < min , , z : = a0 (35)
8K2 K3 est N1

From the above, we deduce that there exist two positive constants a5 and a6 such that (32) becomes
Z
d
L(t)  a5 E ( t ) + a6 ( g⇤ux )dx (36)
dt W

Multiplying (36) by x, we have

Z
d
x L(t)  a5 xE(t) + a6 x ( g⇤ux )dx
dt W

On the other hand, by the definition of the functionals D (t), F1 (t), F2 (t), F3 (t) and E(t), for N1
large enough, there exists a positive constant a3 satisfying

| N2 D (t) + N3 F1 (t) + N4 F2 (t) + F3 (t)|  h1 E(t)

which implies that

( N1 h1 )E(t)  L(t)  ( N1 + h1 )E(t)
Mathematics 2016, 4, 42 11 of 13

Exploiting (H2) and (8), we have

Z Z Z
d 2K
x ( g⇤ux )dx  ( g0 ⇤ux )dx  2 E(t) + 1 u2t dx (37)
W W dt N1 W

Thus, (36) becomes

d d 4K a6
x L(t)  a5 xE(t) 2a6 E(t) + 1 E(t) (38)
dt dt N1

We add a restriction condition on x, that is, we suppose that

4K1 a6
x> := x 0 (39)
N1

Then, (38) becomes, for some positive constants

d d
x L(t)  a7 xE(t) a8 E(t)
dt dt

Now, we define functionals L (t) as

L (t) = xL(t) + a8 E(t)

It is clear that
L (t) ⇠ E(t) (40)

Then, we have
d
L (t)  a7 xE(t) (41)
dt
A simple integration of (41) over (t0 , t) leads to

cx (t t0 )
L ( t )  L ( t0 ) e , 8t t0 (42)

Recalling (40), Equation (42) yields the desired result (7). This completes the proof of Theorem 3.

4. Conclusions
The main purpose of present work is to investigate decay rate for a transmission problem with
a viscoelastic term and a delay term but without the frictional damping term. It is based upon our
previous work ([1]), in which we studied the well-posedness and general decay rate for a transmission
problem in a bounded domain with a viscoelastic term and a delay term. The main difficulty in dealing
with the problem here is that in the first equation of system (2), we have no frictional damping term to
control the delay term in the estimate of the energy decay. To overcome this difficulty, our basic idea
is to control the delay term by making use of the viscoelastic term. In order to achieve this target, a
restriction of the size between the parameter µ2 and the relaxation function g and a suitable energy is
needed. This is motivated by Dai and Yang’s work [34], in which the viscoelastic wave equation with
delay term but without a frictional damping term was considered and an exponential decay result
was established. In Section 2, we give some notations and hypotheses needed for our work and state
the main results. In Section 3, because the
Z energy is not non-increasing, we introduce the additional
functional to produce negative term u2t dx. Then by introducing suitable Lyaponov functionals,
W
we prove the exponential decay of the solutions for the relaxation function satisfying assumption ( H1 )
and ( H2 ).
Mathematics 2016, 4, 42 12 of 13

Acknowledgments: This work was supported by the project of the Chinese Ministry of Finance (Grant No.
GYHY200906006), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11301277), and the Natural
Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. BK20151523).
Author Contributions: There was equal contribution by the authors. Danhua Wang, Gang Li, Biqing Zhu read
and approved the final manuscript.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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