Exponential and polynomial stability results for networks of elastic and thermo-elastic rods

Abstract

<p style='text-indent:20px;'>In this paper, we investigate a network of elastic and thermo-elastic materials. On each thermo-elastic edge, we consider two coupled wave equations such that one of them is damped via a coupling with a heat equation. On each elastic edge (undamped), we consider two coupled conservative wave equations. Under some conditions, we prove that the thermal damping is enough to stabilize the whole system. If the two waves propagate with the same speed on each thermo-elastic edge, we show that the energy of the system decays exponentially. Otherwise, a polynomial energy decay is attained. Finally, we present some other boundary conditions and show that under sufficient conditions on the lengths of some elastic edges, the energy of the system decays exponentially on some particular networks similar to the ones considered in [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b18">18</xref>].</p>