Homogenization of noncoercive functionals: Periodic materials with soft inclusions (Q1112323)

In the framework of homogenization theory the authors deal with the study of the behavior, as h goes to \(\infty\), of the minimum points of integral functionals, where the integrands are given by \(f(hx,Du)+gu\) and the hypothesis on f(x,z) are that f is periodic in x and non-strictly convex in z. The function u is vector valued and f depends on the gradient of u through the strain tensor e(u). Applications of these results are related to periodic materials with soft inclusions. The general case of the variational problem leads to a fully nonlinear system of partial differential equations.