Analysis and discretization of an optimal control problem for the time-periodic MHD equations

We consider the mathematical formulation and analysis of an optimal control problem associated with the tracking of the velocity and the magnetic field of a viscous, incompressible, electrically conducting fluid in a bounded two-dimensional domain through the adjustment of distributed controls. Existence of optimal solutions is proved and first-order necessary conditions for optimality are used to derive an optimality system of partial differential equations whose solutions provide optimal states and controls. Semidiscrete-in-time approximations are defined and their convergence to the exact optimal solutions is shown. (c) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.