Shape derivative of the Dirichlet energy for a transmission problem

Abstract

For a transmission problem in a truncated two-dimensional cylinder located beneath the graph of a function u, the shape derivative of the Dirichlet energy (with respect to u) is shown to be well-defined and is computed. The main difficulties in this context arise from the weak regularity of the domain and the possible non-empty intersection of the graph of u and the transmission interface. The result is applied to establish the existence of a solution to a free boundary transmission problem for an electrostatic actuator.