Stability of a nonlinear first order hyperbolic system: application to a flexible torque arm

This paper deals with asymptotic and exponential stability for a class of nonlinear first order hyperbolic system. The basic idea is to extend the characteristics method, used for the linear hyperbolic systems, to the considered nonlinear system. The motivation of this study comes from a stabilization problem of a flexible torque arm by means of nonlinear boundary controls depending only on velocities.