Wrinkling of stretched elastic films via bifurcation Ron-Bin CHENG* & Tim HEALEY Department of Theoretical & Applied

Mechanics Cornell University *rc284@cornell.edu Abstract Consider a thin rectangular elastic sheet or film. The formation of transverse wrinkles is typically observed while clamping two opposite ends and stretching in that direction. We adopt a Fppl - von Krmn model for the film, and study the problem via numerical bifurcation theory. Note that the primary planar solution is not homogeneous, due to the realistic boundary conditions (no lateral contraction is allowed at the clamped boundaries). As such, even the family of planar solutions must be computed numerically; we then seek non-planar bifurcating solutions. In particular, there are two natural continuation parameters appearing in our problem: (1) the gross or nominal stretch ratio; (2) the reciprocal of the square of the thickness (the ratio of the in-plane stiffness to the bending stiffness). We follow non-planar equilibria via numerical path-following techniques. Switching back and forth between the two continuation parameters allows us to trace the bifurcating solution branches in the regimes of interest, viz., where the continuation parameter is very large (corresponding to very thin sheets). We then pinpoint stable wrinkled patterns, corresponding to bifurcated non-planar solutions that render the potential energy a local minimum.