Existence and approximation results for nonlinear mixed problems: Application to incompressible finite elasticity

Summary This paper considers the problems of minimizing Gateaux-differentiable functionals over subsets of real Banach spaces defined by a non-linear equality constraint. The existence of a Lagrange multiplier is proved, together with approximation results on the constrained subset, provided a nonlinear compatibility condition, generalizing the classical inf-sup condition, is satisfied. These ideas are applied to equilibrium problems in incompressible finite elasticity and lead to convergence results for these problems.