Coiling of elastic rods on rigid substrates.

ABSTRACT: We investigate the deployment of a thin elastic rod onto a rigid substrate and study the resulting coiling patterns. In our approach, we combine precision model experiments, scaling analyses, and computer simulations toward developing predictive understanding of the coiling process. Both cases of deposition onto static and moving substrates are considered. We construct phase diagrams for the possible coiling patterns and characterize them as a function of the geometric and material properties of the rod, as well as the height and relative speeds of deployment. The modes selected and their characteristic length scales are found to arise from a complex interplay between gravitational, bending, and twisting energies of the rod, coupled to the geometric nonlinearities intrinsic to the large de

SUBMITTER: Jawed MK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4205668 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature