Modeling of elasto-capillary phenomena
David Henann (Brown University), Katia Bertoldi (Harvard University)
Soft Materials and Structures
Tue 4:20 - 5:40
Barus-Holley 158
Surface energy is an important factor in the deformation of fluids but is typically a minimal or negligible effect in solids. However, when a solid is soft and its characteristic dimension is small, forces due to surface energy can become important and induce significant elastic deformation. The interplay between surface energy and elasticity can lead to interesting elasto-capillary phenomena. We present a finite-element-based numerical simulation capability for modeling these effects in a static, implicit framework. We demonstrate the capacity of the simulation capability by examining three elasto-capillary problems, each involving an instability: (i) cavitation of an elastomer, (ii) the Rayleigh-Plateau instability in a soft elastic solid, and (iii) creasing in the presence of surface energy.