LARGE SOLUTIONS AND SMOOTHING PROPERTIES FOR NONLINEAR THERMOELASTIC SYSTEMS

We study the existence of global solutions for large data for a class of systems of thermoelastic type with non-local nonlinearities. Moreov er, we investigate smoothing properties of such coupled systems in an abstract setting, including some models for thermoelastic plates. In t his setting, classical second-order thermoelasticity and viscoleastici ty of integral type are recognized as limiting cases. Decay rates of S obolev norms of the solutions as time tends to infinity are also inves tigated. (C) 1996 Academic Press, Inc.