Space-time as multidimensional elastic plate
  It is suggested, that a curved 4-dimensional space-time manifold is a strained elastic plate in multidimensional embedding space-time. Its thicknesses along extradimensions are much less than 4-dimensional sizes. Reduced 4-dimensional free energy density of the strained plate in a weak strain case is similar to GR Lagrangian density of a gravitational field for the particular value of the Poisson coefficient of the plate. Dynamical equations of the theory are obtained by variation of the multidimensional free energy over displacement vector components. In general case they are inhomogeneous bewave equations. 
Sergey S. Kokarev