Quasiconvexity at the boundary, positivity of the second variation and elastic stability (Q801707): Difference between revisions

In this paper the relations connecting positivity of the second variation and elastic stability are studied in penetrating way. A crucial result shows that for nonlinear elasticity in n\(>1\) space dimensions positivity of the second variation does not imply a strong local minimum even under suitable convexity assumptions on the stored-energy function. A new necessary condition for a minimum, called by the author ''quasiconvexity at the boundary'', and valid for mixed problems of the calculus of variations is also given. This represents a contribution interesting in itself. In the last part of this paper it is shown that for nonlinear elasticity any proper local minimum of the energy in \(W^{1,1}\) lies in a potential well and thus is Lyapunov stable when the total energy is nonincreasing.