Touchdown solutions in general MEMS models

Abstract: We study general equations modeling electrostatic MEMS devices \begin{equation} \begin{cases} \label{P} \varphi\big(r,- u'(r)\big)=\lambda\int_0^r\frac{f(s)}{g(u(s))}\,\mathrm{d}s, & r\in(0,1), \ 0 < u(r) < 1, & r\in(0,1), \ u(1) = 0, \tag{$P_\lambda$} \end{cases} \end{equation} where $\varphi$, $g$, $f$ are some functions on $[0,1]$ and $\lambda>0$ is a parameter. We obtain results on the existence and regularity of a touchdown solution to \eqref{P} and find upper and lower bounds on the respective pull-in voltage. In the particular case, when $\varphi(r,v) = r^\alpha |v|^\beta v$, i.e., when the associated differential equation involves the operator $r^{-\gamma}(r^\alpha |u'|^\beta u')'$, we obtain an exact asymptotic behavior of the touchdown solution in a neighborhood of the origin.