Evolutionary variational–hemivariational inequalities with applications to dynamic viscoelastic contact mechanics

The purpose of this work is to introduce and investigate a complicated variational–hemivariational inequality of parabolic type with history-dependent operators. First, we establish an existence and uniqueness theorem for a first-order nonlinear evolution inclusion problem, which is driven by a convex subdifferential operator for a proper convex function and a generalized Clarke subdifferential operator for a locally Lipschitz superpotential. Then, we employ the fixed point principle for history-dependent operators to deliver the unique solvability of the parabolic variational–hemivariational inequality. Finally, a dynamic viscoelastic contact problem with the nonlinear constitutive law involving a convex subdifferential inclusion is considered as an illustrative application, where normal contact and friction are described, respectively, by two nonconvex and nonsmooth multi-valued terms.