• The Pure and Applied Mathematics
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.199-212
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• 2009

We investigate the multiplicity of the nontrivial periodic solutions for a class of the system of the nonlinear suspension bridge equations with Dirichlet boundary condition and periodic condition. We show that the system has at least two nontrivial periodic solutions by the abstract version of the critical point theory on the manifold with boundary. We investigate the geometry of the sublevel sets of the corresponding functional of the system and the topology of the sublevel sets. Since the functional is strongly indefinite, we use the notion of the suitable version of the Palais-Smale condition.