To begin with, we identify the equations of elastostatics in a Riemannian manifold, which generalize those of classical elasticity in the three-dimensional Euclidean space. Our approach relies on the principle of least energy, which asserts that the deformation of the elastic body arising in response to given loads minimizes over a specific set of admissible deformations the total energy of the elastic body, defined as the difference between the strain energy and the potential of the loads. Assuming that the strain energy is a function of the metric tensor field induced by the deformation, we first derive the principle of virtual work and the associated nonlinear boundary value problem of nonlinear elasticity from the expression of the total energy of the elastic body. We then show that this boundary value problem possesses a solution if the loads are sufficiently small (in a sense we specify).

43 pages