Generalized versus classical normal derivative

Abstract

"Given a bounded domain with Lipschitz boundary, the general Green formula permits to justify that the weak solutions of a Neumann elliptic problem satisfy the Neumann boundary condition in a weak sense. The formula involves a generalized normal derivative. We prove a general result which establishes that the generalized normal derivative of an operator coincides with the classical one, provided that the operator is continuous. This result allows to deduce that, under usual regularity assumptions, the weak solutions of a Neumann problem satisfy the Neumann boundary condition in the classical sense. This information is nec- essary in particular for applying the strong maximum principle."