Conical Surfaces and Crescent Singularities in Crumpled Sheets

E. Cerda; L. Mahadevan

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.80.2358

Conical Surfaces and Crescent Singularities in Crumpled Sheets

E. Cerda and L. Mahadevan

Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 2358 – Published 16 March 1998

Abstract

We analyze the geometry and elasticity of the crescentlike singularity on a crumpled elastic sheet. We give a physical realization of this in terms of a free-boundary contact problem. An analytical solution is given for the universal shape of a developable cone that characterizes the singularity far from the tip, and some of its predictions are qualitatively verified experimentally. We also give a scaling relation for the core size, defined as the region close to the tip of the cone where the sheet is not developable.

Received 14 October 1997

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.80.2358

Authors & Affiliations

E. Cerda^* and L. Mahadevan^†

Division of Mechanics and Materials, Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139

^*Also affiliated with Centro de Física No-lineal y Sistemas Complejos de Santiago, Chile.
^†Electronic address: l_m@mit.edu