Initial–boundary value problems for conservation laws with source terms and the Degasperis–Procesi equation ✩

We consider conservation laws with source terms in a bounded domain with Dirichlet boundary conditions. We first prove the existence of a strong trace at the boundary in order to provide a simple formulation of the entropy boundary condition. Equipped with this formulation, we go on to establish the well-posedness of entropy solutions to the initial–boundary value problem. The proof utilizes the kinetic formulation and the averaging lemma. Finally, we make use of these results to demonstrate the well-posedness in a class of discontinuous solutions to the initial–boundary value problem for the Degasperis–Procesi shallow water equation, which is a third order nonlinear dispersive equation that can be rewritten in the form of a nonlinear conservation law with a nonlocal source term. © 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.