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Thin films

Wrinkling of an elastic sheet under tension

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Abstract

Here we consider the wrinkling of a stretched, slender elastic sheet and derive scaling laws for the wrinkle wavelength and amplitude that are valid far from the onset of buckling. Our results, which can be generalized to stretched and sheared anisotropic and inelastic sheets, could form the basis of a sensitive assay for the mechanical characterization of thin solid films.

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Figure 1: Wrinkles in a polyethylene sheet.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB3 9EW, UK

    E. Cerda & L. Mahadevan

  2. Departamento Fisica, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Santiago, Chile

    E. Cerda

  3. Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, University of Texas, Austin, 78705, Texas, USA

    K. Ravi-Chandar

Authors
  1. E. Cerda
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  2. K. Ravi-Chandar
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  3. L. Mahadevan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to E. Cerda.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Cerda, E., Ravi-Chandar, K. & Mahadevan, L. Wrinkling of an elastic sheet under tension. Nature 419, 579–580 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/419579b

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