Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2018
In this paper we investigate the existence of positive solutions for nonlinear elliptic problems driven by the $p$-Laplacian with a nonsmooth potential (hemivariational inequality). Under asymptotic conditions that make the Euler functional indefinite and incorporate in our framework the asymptotically linear problems, using a variational approach based on nonsmooth critical point theory, we obtain positive smooth solutions. Our analysis also leads naturally to multiplicity results.