Density in SBD and approximation of fracture energies (Q2335821)

If \(\Omega\) is an open set in \(\mathbb{R}^n\), then \(\mathrm{BD}(\Omega)\) is the space of functions with bounded deformation, that is, the set of functions \(u\) in \(L^1(\Omega;\mathbb{R}^n)\) whose symmetric distributional derivative \(Eu\), given by \(E_{ij}u=(D_iu^j+D_ju^i)/2\), is a matrix-valued Radon measure with finite total variation. In [Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 139, No. 3, 201--238 (1997; Zbl 0890.49019)], for BD functions, \textit{L. Ambrosio} et al. have introduced special bounded deformation (SBD) functions as the bounded deformation functions \(u\) whose symmetric distributional gradient \(Eu\) has no Cantor part. The space SED has been introduced to represent displacements in elastic materials with fractures. In this paper, the author defines three subspaces \(\mathrm{SBD}\), \(\mathrm{SBD}^p\), and \(\mathrm{SBD}^p_\infty\) of the special bounded deformation SBD functions. For an open and bounded \(\Omega\subset\mathbb{R}^n\), a \(L^1\) function \(u:\Omega\to\mathbb{R}^n\) is said to be special bounded deformation function over \(\Omega\), or \(u\in \mathrm{SBD}(\Omega)\), if its bounded Radon measure \(Eu\) has the form \[ Eu=e(u)\mathscr{L}^n+(|u|\odot\nu_u)(x)\mathscr{H}^{n-1} J_u, \] where \(e(u)\) is the density of \(Eu\) with respect to \(\mathscr{L}^n\), \(J_u\) is the jump set, i.e., the set of points \(x\) at which \(u\) has two different approximate limits \(u^+(x)\), \(u_-(x)\) with respect to a suitable direction \(\nu_u(x)\), \([u](x)=u^+(x)-u_-(x)\) is the jump, \(\odot\) is the symmetric tensor product, and \(\mathscr{L}^n\) and \(\mathscr{H}^{n-1}\) are the \(n\)-dimensional Lebesgue and the \((n-1)\)-dimensional Hausdorff measures, respectively. If \(p1\), then \[ \mathrm{SBD}^p(\Omega)=\{u;\ e(u)\in L^p(\Omega;\mathbb{M}^{n\times n}_{sym})\wedge\mathscr{H}^{n-1}(J_u)\infty\}\subset \mathrm{SBD}(\Omega) \] and \[ \mathrm{SBD}^p_\infty(\Omega)=\{u;\ e(u)\in L^p(\Omega;\mathbb{M}^{n\times n}_{sym})\}\subset \mathrm{SBD}(\Omega) \] are two remaining subspaces. The set \(\mathscr{U}(\Omega;\mathbb{R}^n)\) consists of the \(L^\infty\) functions \(u\in \mathrm{SBV}(\Omega;\mathbb{R}^n)\) such that \(J_v\) is closed and included in a finite union of closed connected pieces of \(C^1\) hypersurfaces, and \(v\in C^\infty(\overline\Omega\backslash J_v;\mathbb{R}^n)\cap W^{m,\infty}(\Omega\backslash J_v;\mathbb{R}^n)\) for all \(m\in\mathbb{N}\). The goal of this paper is to prove three density theorems, in the strong BD topology, for the three above-defined subspaces of SBD. First, the author shows that for any \(u\in \mathrm{SBD}^p(\Omega)\) there exist \(u_k\in\mathscr{U}(\Omega;\mathbb{R}^n)\) such that \[ \lim\limits_{k\to\infty}\left(\|u_k-u\|_{\mathrm{BD}(\Omega)}+\|e(u_k)-e(u)\|_{L^p(\Omega;\mathbb{M}^{n\times n}_{sym})}+\mathscr{H}^{n-1}(J_{u_k}\Delta J_u)\right)=0. \] Moreover, there are Borel sets \(E_k\subset\Omega\) such that \[ \lim\limits_{k\to\infty}\mathscr{L}^{n}(E_k)=\lim\limits_{k\to\infty}\int\limits_{\Omega\backslash E_k}|u_k-u|^p\mathrm{dx}=0. \] Next, it is proven that for any \(u\in \mathrm{SBD}(\Omega)\) there exist \(u_k\in\mathscr{U}(\Omega;\mathbb{R}^n)\) such that \(J_{u_k}\) a finite union of pairwise disjoint \(C^1\) compact hypersurfaces strictly contained in \(\Omega\) and \[ \lim\limits_{k\to\infty}\left(\|u_k-u\|_{\mathrm{BD}(\Omega)}+\mathscr{H}^{n-1}(J_{u_k}\backslash J_u)\right)=0. \] Finally, the author proves that for for any \(u\in \mathrm{SBD}^p_\infty(\Omega)\) there exist \(u_k\in\mathscr{U}(\Omega;\mathbb{R}^n)\) such that \[ \lim\limits_{k\to\infty}\left(\|u_k-u\|_{\mathrm{BD}(\Omega)}+\|e(u_k)-e(u)\|_{L^p(\Omega;\mathbb{M}^{n\times n}_{sym})}\right)=0. \] The remaining part of the paper is devoted to comparison of the three density theorems with existing results by discussing related approximation of fracture energies.