Lewicka, MartaMahadevan, L.Pakzad, Reza2010-02-242010-02-242010-02-24https://hdl.handle.net/11299/58443We provide a derivation of the Foppl-von Karman equations for the shape of and stresses in an elastic plate with residual strains. These might arise from a range of causes: inhomogeneous growth, plastic deformation, swelling or shrinkage driven by solvent absorption. Our analysis gives rigorous bounds on the convergence of the three dimensional equations of elasticity to the low-dimensional description embodied in the plate-like description of laminae and thus justifies a recent formulation of the problem to the shape of growing leaves. It also formalizes a procedure that can be used to derive other low-dimensional descriptions of active materials.en-USnon-Euclidean platesnonlinear elasticityGamma convergencecalculus of variationsPreprint