Exponential decay rates for a full von Karman system of dynamic thermoelasticity

The full von Karman system accounting for in plane acceleration and thermal effects is considered. The main results of the paper are: (i) the wellpose dness of regular and weak (finite energy) solutions, (ii) the uniform decay rates obtained for the energy function in the presence of mechanical dampi ng affecting only the solenoidal part of the velocity field representing th e horizontal displacements of the plate. The obtained decay rates are unifo rm with respect to the parameter gamma which represents the momenta of iner tia and whose presence distinguishes the "parabolic-like' from the hyperbol ic character of the dynamics. (C) 2000 Academic Press.