On the nonlinear mechanics of discrete networks (Q1361189)

A formulation of the equilibrium problem for nonlinear elastic networks is presented. Explicit necessary and sufficient conditions for minimum-energy configurations are derived. These are used to generate a relaxed formulation of the theory in which fibre slackening is accounted for automatically. For the relaxed problem, minimum-energy and uniqueness theorems are proved and used as the basis of a numerical method in which equilibrium configurations are recovered asymptotically in the long-time limit of an artificial dynamical problem. Several illustrative examples are discussed.