Dynamic Analysis of a Nonlinear Timoshenko Equation

We characterize the global and nonglobal solutions of the Timoshenko equation in a bounded domain. We consider nonlinear dissipation and a nonlinear source term. We prove blowup of solutions as well as convergence to the zero and nonzero equilibria, and we give rates of decay to the zero equilibrium. In particular, we prove instability of the ground state. We show existence of global solutions without a uniform bound in time for the equation with nonlinear damping. We define and use a potential well and positive invariant sets.