Global extremum criteria for finite elasticity (Q1201311)

A criterium of the global extremum for the complementary energy functional in the finite nonlinear elasticity and a sufficient condition for the validity of the Levinson-Zubov's principle are established in the paper. The author realises a unified theory for the complementary-dual variational principle in nonlinear elasticity using the gap function \({\mathcal G}(u,T)=\int_ \Omega{1\over 2}\text{tr}[(u\nabla)T(\nabla u)]d\Omega\), where \(u\) is the deformation vector, \(T\) the stress tensor, \(\nabla\) the gradient operator and \(\Omega\) the domain of the body. The global extremum criterium and the sufficient condition consist in the inequality \({\mathcal G}(u,T)\geq 0\), \(\forall u\). The results have applications in the finite elasticity theory, in nonlinear plasticity, finite plastic dynamics and in obstacle problem of von Kármán plates.