Multi-symplectic Birkhoffian structure for PDEs with dissipation terms

A generalization of the multi-symplectic form for Hamiltonian systems to self-adjoint systems with dissipation terms is studied. These systems can be expressed as multi-symplectic Birkhoffian equations, which leads to a natural definition of Birkhoffian multi-symplectic structure. The concept of Birkhoffian multi-symplectic integrators for Birkhoffian PDEs is investigated. The Birkhoffian multi-symplectic structure is constructed by the continuous variational principle, and the Birkhoffian multi-symplectic integrator by the discrete variational principle. As an example, two Birkhoffian multi-symplectic integrators for the equation describing a linear damped string are given. (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier B.V.