The metric-restricted inverse design problem

Abstract

We study a class of design problems in solid mechanics, leading to a variation on the classical question of equi-dimensional embeddability of Riemannian manifolds. In this general new context, we derive a necessary and sufficient existence condition, given through a system of total differential equations, and discuss its integrability. In the classical context, the same approach yields conditions of immersibility of a given metric in terms of the Riemann curvature tensor. In the present situation, the equations do not close in a straightforward manner, and successive differentiation of the compatibility conditions leads to a new algebraic description of integrability. We also recast the problem in a variational setting and analyze the infimum of the appropriate incompatibility energy, resembling the "non-Euclidean elasticity." We then derive a $\Gamma$-convergence result for the dimension reduction from $3$d to $2$d in the Kirchhoff energy scaling regime.