20/05/2025 at 11:00, Room 1B, Building RM002
According to the third law of thermodynamics, the absolute zero temperature cannot be attained. Starting from a positive initial temperature, we prove the existence of solutions to a Kelvin–Voigt model for quasi-static, nonlinear thermoviscoelasticity in a finite-strain regime, with the temperature bounded from below by an exponentially decaying function of time. We subsequently consider small perturbations around the identity deformation and temperatures near a critical positive reference value. In this regime, we show that weak solutions of the non-linear system converge, in a suitable sense, to solutions of a linearized thermoviscoelastic model. Additionally, we present several computational experiments that illustrate the theoretical findings. This research is conducted in collaboration with R. Badal (Erlangen), M. Friedrich (Erlangen), L. Machill (Bonn), and M. Horak (Prague).