Wrinkling in the Lamé problem: a $Γ$-convergence approach

Abstract

We study wrinkling patterns in a thin elastic annulus subjected to radial stretching within the framework of the Föppl--von Kármán theory. Building on the analysis of the Lamé problem in Bella and Kohn, we investigate the asymptotic regime $h\to0$ and establish a $Γ$-convergence result for suitably rescaled energies after subtraction of the relaxed membrane energy. The limiting functional is a scalar convex measure-valued energy coupled with a constraint on the marginal of the limiting measure, describing the distribution of wrinkle frequencies. We also prove existence and qualitative properties of minimizers of the limiting functional.