
311 
exactly the final condition 
namely, if, by means of  boundary controls, the system can drive any given 
initial state 
'p 
to any given final state 
$ 
at 
t 
= 
T, 
then, we  say that this 
system possesses the exact boundary controllability. 
More precisely, if  the exact boundary controllability can be realized only 
for 
initial and final states small enough in 
a 
certain sense, we  say that the 
system possesses the local exact  boundary  controllability;  Otherwise, we 
say the system possesses the global exact boundary controllability. 
Since the hyperbolic wave has a finite speed of  propagation, the exact 
boundary  controllability  of 
a 
hyperbolic equation  (system) requires  that 
the controllability  time 
T 
must  be suitably large 
so 
that two maximum 
determinate domains  associated with  the initial state and the final state 
respectively are separated.  Then, in order to have 
a 
classical solution to the 
corresponding mixed initial-boundary value problem on the domain 
[0, 
T] 
x 
172, 
we  should first  prove the existence and uniqueness 
of 
the semi-global 
classical solution, namely, the classical solution on the time interval 
0 
5 
t 
5 
T, 
where 
T 
> 
0 
is a preassigned and possibly quite large number. The exact 
boundary controllability will be based on the existence and uniqueness 
of 
semi-global classical solution to the mixed initial-boundary value problem 
for quasilinear hyperbolic equations (systems). 
There are a number of  publications concerning the exact controllability 
for linear  hyperbolic equations (systems) (see 
J. 
L. 
Lions 
[8], 
D. 
L. 
Rus- 
sell 
[9] 
etc.).  For  the semilinear case, using the HUM  method  suggested 
by 
J. 
L. Lions and Schauder's fixed point theorem, 
E. 
Zuazua 
[lo] 
proved 
the global (resp. local) exact boundary controllability for semilinear wave 
equations  in  the asymptotically  linear  case  (resp.  the super-linear  case 
with  suitable growth  conditions).  Furthermore,  using 
a 
global inversion 
theorem, 
I. 
Lasiecka and  R. Triggiani 
[ll] 
established  an abstract result 
on the exact controllability for semilinear equations. 
As 
applications, they 
gave the global exact boundary controllability for wave and plate equations 
in the asymptotically linear case.  However, only a few  results are known 
for quasilinear hyperbolic systems.  In an earlier work, 
M. 
CirinL 
[12]-[13] 
considered the  zero exact  boundary  controllability  for quasilinear  hyper- 
bolic systems with  linear boundary controls, but the author needed some 
very strong conditions on the coefficients of  the system(global1y bounded 
and globally Lipschitz continuous) and his results are essentially valid only 
for the system of  diagonal form.