Wrinkling of the membrane with square rigid elements

¹ School of Aerospace Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology - Beijing 100081, China
² School of Mechatronical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology - Beijing 100081, China
³ Key Laboratory of Autonomous Navigation and Control for Deep Space Exploration, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Beijing Institute of Technology - Beijing 100081, China

^(a) zhangkai@bit.edu.cn (corresponding author)

Received: 21 September 2016
Accepted: 15 November 2016

Abstract

Heterogeneous membrane with rigid elements has been extensively applied in flexible electronic systems and in aerospace structures. Here, we study the surface wrinkling of such heterogeneous membrane. Experiment, theoretical analysis and numerical simulation are performed to quantify the effect of rigid elements on the wrinkle pattern of the membrane. The characteristics of wrinkles related to the positions of rigid elements and stretching strain are investigated and the underlying mechanism is revealed. It is found that wrinkle patterns can be tailored by varying the positions of the rigid elements to achieve desired functions. Our results can provide insightful ideas to understand the wrinkling phenomenon of heterogeneous membranes and create novel wrinkle patterns in a controllable way.