title: Wrapping an adhesive sphere with an elastic sheet.
abstract: We study the adhesion of an elastic sheet on a rigid spherical substrate. Gauss's Theorema Egregium shows that this operation necessarily generates metric distortions (i.e., stretching) as well as bending. As a result, a large variety of contact patterns ranging from simple disks to complex branched shapes are observed as a function of both geometrical and material properties. We describe these different morphologies as a function of two nondimensional parameters comparing, respectively, bending and stretching energies to adhesion. A complete configuration diagram is finally proposed.
authors.affiliation: Physique et Mécanique des Milieux Hétérogènes, CNRS UMR 7636, UPMC and Université Paris Diderot, ESPCI-ParisTech, 10 rue Vauquelin, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France.
authors.forename: Jérémy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hure
authors.forename: Benoît
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Roman
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bico