theories arising as low energy Γ-limit of 3d nonlinear elasticity, submitted

Abstract. We discuss the limiting behavior (using the notion of Γ-limit) of the 3d nonlinear elasticity for thin shells around an arbitrary smooth 2d surface. In particular, under the assumption that the elastic energy of defor-mations scales like h4, h being the thickness of a shell, we derive a limiting theory which is a generalization of the von Kármán theory for plates. Content