Hyperelastic deformations and total combined energy of mappings between annuli (Q2300424)

Let \(\mathbb{A}=\{z:1\leq|z|\leq r\}\) and \(\mathbb{B}=\{w:1\leq|w|\leq R\}\) be rounded annuli in the complex plane \(\mathbb{C}\). Let \(\mathcal{F}(\mathbb{A}, \mathbb{B})\) be the homotopy class of all orientation-preserving homeomorphisms \(h:\mathbb{A}\stackrel{\mathrm{ onto}}{\longrightarrow}\mathbb{B}\) between the annuli, which keep the boundary circles in the same order and which belong to the Sobolev class \(W^{1,1}\) together with its inverse. If \(h\in\mathcal{F}(\mathbb{A}, \mathbb{B})\) then \(h_{\mathrm{ o}}(z)=\frac1rh(z)\) is an orientation-preserving homeomorphism between the annuli \(\mathbb{A}\) and \(\{w:1\leq|w|\leq R/r\}\). Let \[ \mathcal{E}[h]=\mathcal{E}[\mathbf{a}, \mathbf{b}][h]\stackrel{\mathrm{ def}}{=}\int_{\mathbb{A}}(\mathbf{a}^2|h_N|^2+ \mathbf{b}^2|h_T|^2)\,dxdy\,, \] where \(\mathbf{a}>0\), \(\mathbf{b}>0\), \(h\in\mathcal{F}(\mathbb{A}, \mathbb{B})\). Here \(h_N\) and \(h_T\) are the radial (normal) and angular (tangential) derivatives of \(h\). The authors consider the so-called combined energy \(\mathfrak{E}\) of a deformation \(h\) between the two concentric annuli \(\mathbb{A}\) and \(\mathbb{B}\): \[ \mathfrak{E}\stackrel{\mathrm{ def}}{=}\alpha\mathcal{E}[\mathbf{a}, \mathbf{b}][h] +\beta\mathcal{E}[\mathbf{a}, \mathbf{b}][h^{-1}]\,. \] It is proved that under concavity condition for \(\mathbf{c}=\mathbf{a}/\mathbf{b}\leqslant1\) or convexity condition for \(\mathbf{c}\geqslant1\), the total combined energy integral \(\mathfrak{E}:\mathfrak{ F}(\mathbb{A}, \mathbb{B})\rightarrow\mathbf{R}\) attains its minimum for a radial mapping \(h_{\mathrm{ o}}\). The same holds for the special case \(\mathrm{R}\) =\(r^{1/\mathbf{c}}\), for every \(\mathbf{c}\). The minimizer is unique up to a rotation. This extends the main result obtained by \textit{T. Iwaniec} and \textit{J. Onninen} [Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 194, No. 3, 927--986 (2009; Zbl 1193.74013)].