Well-posedness and decay in a system of hyperbolic and biharmonic-wave equations with variable exponents and weak dampings

In this paper, we consider a coupled system of hyperbolic and biharmonic-wave equations with variable exponents in the damping and coupling terms. In each equation, the damping term is modulated by a time-dependent coefficient a(t) (or b(t)). First, we state and prove a well-posedness theorem of global weak solutions, by exploiting Galerkin’s method and some compactness arguments. Then, using the multiplier method, we establish the decay rates of the solution energy, under suitable assumptions on the time-dependent coefficients and the range of the variable exponents. We end our work with some illustrative examples.