Broadening global families of anti-plane shear equilibria

Abstract: We develop a global bifurcation theory for two classes of nonlinear elastic materials. It is supposed that they are subjected to anti-plane shear deformation and occupy an infinite cylinder in the reference configuration. Curves of solutions to the corresponding elastostatic problem are constructed using analytic global bifurcation theory. The curve associated with first class is shown to exhibit broadening behavior, while for the second we find that the governing equation undergoes a loss ellipticity in the limit. A sequence of solutions undergoes broadening when their effective supports grow without bound. This phenomena has received considerable attention in the context of solitary water waves; it has been predicted numerically, yet it remains to be proven rigorously. The breakdown of ellipticity is related to cracks and instability making it an important aspect of the theory of failure mechanics.