On the Sadowsky functional for anisotropic ribbons

Abstract

The equilibrium shape of a thin, elastic, inextensible ribbon minimizes its bending energy. It has been shown that, as the width of the ribbon tends to zero, the bending energy Gamma-converges to the so called Sadowsky functional. In this paper we consider geometrically frustrated anisotropic ribbons with a possibly curved reference configuration. We prove that the Gamma-convergence remains valid under prescribed affine boundary conditions, including, in particular, those satisfied by a M\"obius strip.