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The role of extensibility in the birth of a ruck in a rug

Abstract:
Everyday experience suggests that a ‘ruck’ forms when the two ends of a heavy carpet or rug are brought closer together. Classical analysis, however, shows that the horizontal compressive force needed to create such a ruck should be infinite. We show that this apparent paradox is due to the assumption of inextensibility of the rug. By accounting for a finite extensibility, we show that rucks appear with a finite, non-zero end-shortening and confirm our theoretical results with simple experiments. Finally, we note that the appropriate measure of extensibility, the stretchability, is in this case not determined purely by geometry, but incorporates the mechanics of the sheet.
Publication status:
Published
Peer review status:
Peer reviewed

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Publisher copy:
10.1016/j.eml.2015.08.003

Authors


More by this author
Institution:
University of Oxford
Division:
MPLS
Department:
Mathematical Institute
Role:
Author
More by this author
Institution:
University of Oxford
Division:
MPLS
Department:
Mathematical Institute
Role:
Author
More by this author
Institution:
University of Oxford
Division:
MPLS
Department:
Mathematical Institute
Role:
Author
ORCID:
0000-0003-1341-8863


Publisher:
Elsevier
Journal:
Extreme Mechanics Letters More from this journal
Volume:
5
Pages:
81–87
Publication date:
2015-08-28
Acceptance date:
2015-08-22
DOI:
EISSN:
2352-4316
ISSN:
2352-4316


Language:
English
Keywords:
Pubs id:
pubs:545773
UUID:
uuid:355ed6cf-ef8d-4bf4-801b-a3fe7d706679
Local pid:
pubs:545773
Source identifiers:
545773
Deposit date:
2015-11-27

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