Optimal control of nonlocal thermistor equations

Abstract

We are concerned with the optimal control problem of the well known nonlocal thermistor problem, i.e. in studying the heat transfer in the resistor device whose electrical conductivity is strongly dependent on the temperature. Existence of an optimal control is proved. The optimality system consisting of the state system coupled with adjoint equations is derived, together with a characterisation of the optimal control. Uniqueness of solution to the optimality system, and therefore, the uniqueness of the optimal control, is established. The last part is devoted to numerical simulations.