Geometrically constrained stabilization of wave equations with Wentzell boundary conditions

Uniform stabilization of wave equation subject to second-order boundary conditions is considered in this article. Both dynamic (Wentzell) and static (with higher derivatives in space only) boundary conditions are discussed. In contrast to the classical wave equation where stabilization can be achieved by applying boundary velocity feedback, for a Wentzell-type problem boundary damping alone does not cause the energy to decay uniformly to zero. This is the case for both dynamic and static second-order conditions. In order to achieve uniform decay rates of the associated energy, it is necessary to dissipate part of the collar near the boundary. It will be shown how a combination of partially localized boundary feedback and partially localized collar feedback leads to uniform decay rates that are described by a nonlinear differential equation. This goal is attained by combining techniques used for stabilization of 'unobserved' Neumann conditions with differential geometry techniques effec