Homogenisation of thin periodic frameworks with high-contrast inclusions

Abstract: We analyse a problem of two-dimensional linearised elasticity for a two-component periodic composite, where one of the components consists of disjoint soft inclusions embedded in a rigid framework. We consider the case when the contrast between the elastic properties of the framework and the inclusions, as well as the ratio between the period of the composite and the framework thickness increase as the period of the composite becomes smaller. We show that in this regime the elastic displacement converges to the solution of a special two-scale homogenised problem, where the microscopic displacement of the framework is coupled both to the slowly-varying "macroscopic" part of the solution and to the displacement of the inclusions. We prove the convergence of the spectra of the corresponding elasticity operators to the spectrum of the homogenised operator with a band-gap structure.