Partial Differential Equation (PDE) with Periodic Condition

partial differential equations

Given the PDE

$$\frac{\partial^2 v}{\partial x^2} + \frac{\partial^2 v}{\partial y^2} = 0$$

with periodic condition

$$v(x+2\pi,~y) = v(x,~y)$$

find the solution $v(x,y)$ satisfying the boundary conditions

$$v(x,0) =a\sin x \qquad v(x,1) = b \cos{2x}$$

After using separation of variables, I've found the following general solution

$$v(x,y) = (A \cos{\lambda x} + B \sin{\lambda x})(Ce^{\lambda y}+De^{-\lambda y})$$

The problem is, how do I use the periodic condition to get information on the PDE? Any insights on how to proceed?

Best Answer

What you need to do is to set $\lambda$ in such a way that the boundary condition is fulfilled. Since your solution should be $2\pi$ periodic in $x$ the choice $\lambda_n=n\in\mathbb{N_0}$ yields actually a family of suitable solutions: $$ v(x,t)=\sum_{i=0}^\infty (A_n \cos{n x} + B_n \sin{n x})(C_ne^{n y}+D_ne^{-n y}) $$ Now we insert the $y$ boundary conditions $$ a\sin(x)=\sum_{i=0}^\infty (A_n \cos{n x} + B_n \sin{n x})(C_n+D_n) $$ which gives $$ C_n+D_n=0 \mbox{ for } n\neq1\\ A_1=0\\ B_1=a\\ C_1+D_1=1 $$ Inserting yields $$ v(x,t)=a\sin(x)(C_1e^{y}+(1-C_1)e^{-y})+\sum_{i\neq1} (A_n \cos{n x} + B_n \sin{n x})(C_ne^{n y}-C_ne^{-n y}) $$

Likewise the second condition gives $$ b\sin(2x)=a\sin(x)(C_1e^{1}+(1-C_1)e^{-1})+\sum_{i\neq1} (A_n \cos{n x} + B_n \sin{n x})(C_ne^{n}-C_ne^{-n}) $$

$$ C_n=0 \mbox{ for } n\neq1,2\\ A_2=0\\ B_2=b\\ C_2e^{2}-C_2e^{-2}=1\\ C_1e^{1}+(1-C_1)e^{-1}=0 $$ which finally gives the solution as: $$ v(x,t)=a\sin(x)\frac{e^{1-y}-e^{y-1}}{e-e^{-1}}+b\sin(2x)\frac{e^{2y}-e^{-2y}}{e^{2}-e^{-2}} $$

Note that for this specific example of $y$ boundary conditions the full family of solutions was not necessary it would have been sufficient to just take the sum of the two needed functions ($\lambda\in\{1,2\}$ and only the sine functions). However the presented methods also works for any set of $y$ boundary conditions.

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