Journal of Mathematical Analysis and Applications / Boundary optimal control of the Westervelt and the Kuznetsov equations

This paper is concerned with optimal Neumann boundary control for the Westervelt and the Kuznetsov equation, which are equations of nonlinear acoustics. Specifically, functionals of tracking type with applications in noninvasive ultrasonic medical treatments are considered. Existence of optimal controls is established and first order necessary optimality conditions are derived. Stability of the minimizer with respect to perturbations in the data as well as convergence of the controls when the regularization parameter tends to zero is shown.