Some observations on variational elasticity and its application to plates and membranes (Q2421803)

Some approaches to variational elasticity are compared. Energies and equilibrium equations for thin elastic plates are discussed, with emphasis on several issues relevant to recent approaches. The consequences of the choice of basis, the choice of invariant strain measures, and of the approximating material energies as purely geometric in nature are detailed. Ambiguities in the definitions of energies based on small-strain expansions, and in a typical informal process of dimensional reduction, are noted. A simple example serves to demonstrate that a commonly used bending energy has undesirable features, and it is suggested that a new theory based on Biot strains must be developed. The derivation of plate equations in a compact form is presented. Throughout, the divergence form of the equations is emphasized. An appendix relates the naive approach adopted in the main text to standard quantities in continuum mechanics.