Multiplicity of positive radially symmetric solutions for a quasilinear biharmonic equation in the plane

This paper is concerned with the multiplicity of positive radially symmetric solutions of the Dirichlet boundary value problem for the following two-dimensional quasilinear biharmonic equation Delta(vertical bar Delta u vertical bar(p-2) Delta u) = lambda g(x)f(u), x is an element of B-1, where B-1 is the unit ball in the plane. We apply the fixed point index theory and the upper and lower solutions method to investigate the multiplicity of positive radially symmetric solutions. We have found that there exists a threshold lambda* < +infinity, such that if lambda > lambda*, then the problem has no positive radially symmetric solution; while if 0 < lambda <= lambda*, then the problem admits at least one positive radially symmetric solution. Especially, there exist at least two positive radially symmetric solutions for 0 < lambda < lambda*. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.