English

Depressions at the surface of an elastic spherical shell submitted to external pressure

Soft Condensed Matter 2009-05-14 v2

Abstract

Elasticity theory calculations predict the number N of depressions that appear at the surface of a spherical thin shell submitted to an external isotropic pressure. In a model that mainly considers curvature deformations, we show that N only depends on the relative volume variation. Equilibrium configurations show single depression (N=1) for small volume variations, then N increases up to 6, before decreasing more abruptly due to steric constraints, down to N=1 again for maximal volume variations. These predictions are consistent with previously published experimental observations.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0603736,
  title  = {Depressions at the surface of an elastic spherical shell submitted to external pressure},
  author = {Catherine Quilliet},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0603736},
  year   = {2009}
}