Clapeyron-type theorems in nonlinear elasticity

Abstract

Clapeyron's Theorem of classical linear elasticity provides a way to explicitly express the energy stored in an equilibrium configuration in terms of the work of the forces applied on the boundary. We derive several new integral relations which can be viewed as nonlinear analogs of this classical result, reinterpreting them as rather general statements within Calculus of Variations. These relations reflect specific properties of Lagrangians, that we call ``partial variational symmetries'', since they are more general than classical variational symmetries. In the framework of nonlinear elasticity, partial variational symmetries, such as scale invariance, or scaling homogeneity, lead, via Noether's analysis to different nonlinear generalizations of Clapeyron's Theorem that combine naturally the work of physical and configurational forces. We present a series of illuminating examples showing the effectiveness of the obtained general results in different problems of nonlinear elasticity.