title: Geometry-Driven Folding of a Floating Annular Sheet.
abstract: Predicting the large-amplitude deformations of thin elastic sheets is difficult due to the complications of self contact, geometric nonlinearities, and a multitude of low-lying energy states. We study a simple two-dimensional setting where an annular polymer sheet floating on an air-water interface is subjected to different tensions on the inner and outer rims. The sheet folds and wrinkles into many distinct morphologies that break axisymmetry. These states can be understood within a recent geometric approach for determining the gross shape of extremely bendable yet inextensible sheets by extremizing an appropriate area functional. Our analysis explains the remarkable feature that the observed buckling transitions between wrinkled and folded shapes are insensitive to the bending rigidity of the sheet.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York 13244, USA.
authors.forename: Joseph D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Paulsen
authors.affiliation: Gulliver, CNRS, ESPCI Paris, PSL Research University, 10 rue Vauquelin, 75005 Paris, France.
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Démery
authors.affiliation: Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, USA.
authors.forename: K Buğra
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Toga
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, USA.
authors.forename: Zhanlong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.affiliation: Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Russell
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, USA.
authors.forename: Benny
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Davidovitch
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, USA.
authors.forename: Narayanan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Menon