Variational convergence of discrete geometrically-incompatible elastic models (Q1751577)

In this work the authors derive a continuum model for incompatible elasticity as a variational limit of a family of discrete-neighbor elastic models. The discrete models they used are based on the discretization of a smooth Riemann manifold \((M,g)\) endowed with a flat, symmetric connection \(\overset{\nabla}{\sim}\). Here the metric \(g\) determines the local equilibrium distances between the neighboring points. The connection \(\overset{\nabla}{\sim}\) induces a lattice structure shared by all the discrete models. The authors show that the limit model has a fundamental rigidity property; namely, there are no stress free configurations. This is equivalent to saying that \(g\) is flat, i.e., has zero Riemann curvature. The present analysis is focused on a two-dimensional system, but this result may be generalized to higher dimension. The structure of the paper is as follows: Section 2 is devoted to the derivation of key properties of flat symmetric connections and to the definition of affine extensions of functions on the vertices of geodesic triangles. The discrete elastic models are defined in Section 3 and the proof of the variational convergence of discrete elastic models is given in Section 4. The properties of the limit functional and the discussion of various possible extensions of the work are presented, respectively, in Sections 5 and 6. This work is well written and may be interesting for those researchers working in the area of continuum limit of discrete systems.