Exact controllability to the trajectories of the one-phase Stefan problem

Abstract

This paper deals with the exact controllability to the trajectories of the one--phase Stefan problem in one spatial dimension. This is a free-boundary problem that models solidification and melting processes. It is assumed that the physical domain is filled by a medium whose state is liquid on the left and solid, with constant temperature, on the right. In between we find a free-boundary (the interface that separates the liquid from the solid). In the liquid domain, a parabolic equation completed with initial and boundary conditions must be satisfied by the temperature. On the interface, an additional free-boundary requirement, called the {\it Stefan condition,} is imposed. We prove the local exact controllability to the (smooth) trajectories. To this purpose, we first reformulate the problem as the local null controllability of a coupled PDE-ODE system with distributed controls. Then, a new Carleman inequality for the adjoint of the linearized PDE-ODE system, coupled on the boundary through nonlocal in space and memory terms, is presented. This leads to the null controllability of an appropriate linear system. Finally, a local result is obtained via local inversion, by using {\it Liusternik-Graves' Theorem}. As a byproduct of our approach, we find that some parabolic equations which contains memory terms localized on the boundary are null-controllable.