The energy scaling behaviour of singular perturbation models of staircase type in linearized elasticity for higher order laminates

Abstract We investigate the scaling behaviour of a singular perturbation model within the geometrically linearized theory of elasticity involving data of higher lamination order. We study boundary data which are of staircase type and show rather general lower scaling bounds, both in the setting of prescribed Dirichlet data and for periodic configurations with a mean value constraint. In contrast to the setting without gauge invariances, these lower scaling bounds depend on two parameters – the order of lamination of the boundary data as well as the number of involved (non-)degenerate symmetrized rank-one directions. By discussing upper bounds in specific geometries and for a specific constellation of wells, we give evidence of the sharpness of these lower bound estimates. Hence, it is necessary to keep track of the outlined two parameters in deducing scaling laws within the geometrically linearized theory of elasticity.