Nematic elastomers: Gamma-limits for large bodies and small particles

We compute the large-body and the small-particle Gamma-limit of a family of energies for nematic elastomers. We work under the assumption of small deformations (linearized kinematics) and consider both compressible and incompressible materials. In the large-body asymptotics, even if we describe the...

ver descrição completa

Detalhes bibliográficos
Autor: Cesana, P.
Formato: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2011
País:España
Recursos:Basque Center for Applied Mathematics (BCAM)
Repositorio:BIRD. BCAM's Institutional Repository Data
OAI Identifier:oai:bird.bcamath.org:20.500.11824/597
Acesso em linha:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11824/597
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:Gamma-convergence
Linearized elasticity
Nematic liquid crystal elastomers
Descrição
Resumo:We compute the large-body and the small-particle Gamma-limit of a family of energies for nematic elastomers. We work under the assumption of small deformations (linearized kinematics) and consider both compressible and incompressible materials. In the large-body asymptotics, even if we describe the local orientation of the liquid crystal molecules according to the model of perfect order (Frank theory), we prove that we obtain a fully biaxial nematic texture (that of the de Gennes theory) as a by-product of the relaxation phenomenon connected to Gamma-convergence. In the case of small particles, we show that formation of new microstructure is not possible, and we describe the map of minimizers of the Gamma-limit as the phase diagram of the mechanical model.