\documentclass[reqno]{amsart} \usepackage{hyperref} \usepackage{graphicx} \AtBeginDocument{{\noindent\small \emph{Electronic Journal of Differential Equations}, Vol. 2014 (2014), No. 173, pp. 1--11.\newline ISSN: 1072-6691. URL: http://ejde.math.txstate.edu or http://ejde.math.unt.edu \newline ftp ejde.math.txstate.edu} \thanks{\copyright 2014 Texas State University - San Marcos.} \vspace{9mm}} \begin{document} \title[\hfilneg EJDE-2014/173\hfil Existence of solutions] {Existence of solutions for three-point BVPs arising in bridge design} \author[A. K. Verma, M. Singh \hfil EJDE-2014/173\hfilneg] {Amit K. Verma, Mandeep Singh} % in alphabetical order \address{Amit Kumar Verma \newline Department of Mathematics, BITS Pilani, Pilani-333031, Rajasthan, India} \email{amitkverma02@yahoo.co.in} \address{Mandeep Singh \newline Department of Mathematics, BITS Pilani, Pilani-333031, Rajasthan, India} \email{mandeep04may@yahoo.in} \thanks{Submitted February 25, 2014. Published August 12, 2014.} \subjclass[2000]{34L30, 34B27, 34B15} \keywords{Monotone iterative technique; Lipschitz continuous; \hfill\break\indent reversed ordered upper and lower solutions; three point BVP; nonlinear ODE; Green's function} \begin{abstract} This article deals with a class of three-point nonlinear boundary-value problems (BVPs) with Neumann type boundary conditions which arises in bridge design. The source term (nonlinear term) depends on the derivative of the solution, it is also Lipschitz continuous. We use monotone iterative technique in the presence of upper and lower solutions for both well order and reverse order case. Under some sufficient conditions we prove existence results. We also construct two examples to validate our results. These result can be used to generate a user friendly package in Mathematica or MATLAB so that solutions of nonlinear boundary-value problems can be computed. \end{abstract} \maketitle \numberwithin{equation}{section} \newtheorem{theorem}{Theorem}[section] \newtheorem{lemma}[theorem]{Lemma} \newtheorem{proposition}[theorem]{Proposition} \newtheorem{definition}[theorem]{Definition} \newtheorem{example}[theorem]{Example} \allowdisplaybreaks \section{Introduction} In the past few years, there has been much attention focused on multipoint BVPs for nonlinear ordinary differential equations, see \cite{aftabizadeh,gregus,henderson,ma,webb,wei}. Multipoint BVPs have lots of applications in modern science and engineering. It is observed \cite{lazer} that a linear model is insufficient to explain the large oscillatory behavior in suspension bridges also suspension bridges have other nonlinear behaviors such as traveling waves. If the roadbed of a suspension bridge is treated as a one-dimensional vibrating beam the following equation is derived (see \cite[Section 3]{lazer}) \begin{gather} \label{sb} u_{tt}+EIu_{xxxx}+\delta u_t=-k u^{+}+W(x)+\varepsilon f(x,t),\\ \label{sb-bc} u(0,t)=u(L,t)=u_{xx}(0,t)=u_{xx}(L,t)=0. \end{gather} Thus the suspension bridge is seen as a beam of length $L$, with hinged ends, whose downward deflection is measured by $u(x, t)$, with a small viscous damping term, subject to three separate forces; the stays, holding it up as nonlinear springs with spring constant $k$, the weight per unit length of the bridge $W(x)$ pushing it down, and the external forcing term $\varepsilon f (x, t)$. The loading $W(x)$ would usually be constant. If $W$ is replaced by the term $W(x) = W_0 \sin{(x/L)}$, an error of magnitude around $10\%$ is introduced in the loading and little less in the steady-state deflection. Second, if the forcing term is given by $f (x, t) = f (t) \sin{(x /L)}$ and general solutions of \eqref{sb}-\eqref{sb-bc}, is of the form $u(x, t) = y(t)\sin{(x/L)}$. These no-nodal solutions were the most commonly observed type for low velocities on the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. When this $u(x, t)$ is substituted into \eqref{sb}, this results into the differential equation \begin{equation} \label{ode-sb} -y''(t)=f(t,y,y') \end{equation} were $f(t,y,y')=\delta y'+EI(\pi/L)^4y+ky^{+}-W_0-\varepsilon f(t)$, where $y^+$ denotes $y$ if $y$ is non-negative, and zero if $y$ is negative. Large size bridges are sometimes contrived with multi-point supports, which gives rise to multi-point boundary condition. In this paper we focus on monotone iterative technique related to upper and lower solutions. Lot of aspects of this technique has been explored for two point BVPs. When upper $\beta_0$ and lower $\alpha_0$ solution are well ordered; i.e., $\beta_0\geq\alpha_0$ lots of results are available (see \cite{pandey1}-\cite{pandey2} and the references there in). When the upper and lower solutions are in reverse order, that is $\beta_0\leq\alpha_0$ some results are available (see \cite{decoster,li,verma1,verma2} and the references there in). As far as three-point BVPs are concerned, different techniques are used to prove existence results. The case when source function is independent from first derivative results are available. But there are very few results when the first order derivative is involved explicitly in the nonlinear term $f$. Guo et al \cite{guo} consider the three point BVPs \begin{gather} \label{1D} y''(t)+f(t,y,y')=0,\quad 00$, $\eta\in(0,1)$ and $\alpha \eta <1$. They used a new fixed point theorem in a cone. Bao et al \cite{bao} proved some existence results for three-point BVPs \eqref{1D}-\eqref{2D}. They used fixed point index method under a non-well-ordered upper and lower solution condition. Recently Singh et al \cite{singh1,singh2} used monotone iterative method with upper and lower solutions when they are well ordered as well as reverse ordered, and proved some existence results for a class of three point non-linear BVPs. The aim of this article is to explore the monotone iterative method with upper and lower solutions (for both well order as well as reverse order case) for the Neumann type nonlinear three point BVPs given by \begin{gather} \label{1.1} y''(t)+f(t,y,y')=0,\quad 00$ we get Green's function in terms of $\cos$ and $\sin$. In the case when $\lambda<0$ we get Green's function in terms of $\cosh$ and $\sinh$. \begin{lemma}\label{Lemma2.1} Assume \begin{itemize} \item[(H0)] $\lambda\in(0,\pi^2/4)$, $ \sin (\sqrt{\lambda })-\delta \sin (\eta \sqrt{\lambda })>0$ and $ \cos (\sqrt{\lambda })-\delta \cos (\eta \sqrt{\lambda })\geq0$. \end{itemize} When $\lambda>0$, Green's function for the three-point BVPs \begin{gather} \label{2.3} y''(t)+\lambda y(t)=0,\quad 00$. If $y\in C^2(I)$ is the solution of the three-point BVPs \eqref{2.1} and \eqref{2.2}, then it can be expressed as \begin{equation} \label{2.5} y(t)= \frac{b\cos\sqrt{\lambda}t}{\sqrt{\lambda} (\delta \sin\sqrt{\lambda}\eta-\sin\sqrt{\lambda})}- \int^1_0{G(t,s)h(s)ds}. \end{equation} \end{lemma} For a proof of the above lemma, see \cite[Lemma 2.2]{singh1}. \begin{lemma}\label{Lemma2.3} Assume \begin{itemize} \item[(H0$'$)] $\lambda<0$, $\sinh\sqrt{|\lambda|}-\delta\sinh\sqrt{|\lambda|}\eta\ > 0$ and $\delta \cosh\sqrt{|\lambda|}\eta-\cosh\sqrt{|\lambda|}\leq 0 $. \end{itemize} Then for $\lambda <0$, the Green's function of the three-point BVPs \begin{gather*} y''(t)+\lambda y(t)=0,\quad 00$ such that any solution of the differential inequality \begin{gather} \label{3.5} -y''(t)\geq f(t,y,y'),\quad 00$ such that any solution of the differential inequality \begin{gather} \label{3.7} -y''(t)\leq f(t,y,y'),\quad 0