Softly Constrained Films

The shape of materials is often subject to a number of geometric constraints that limit the size of the system or fix the structure of its boundary. In soft and biological materials, however, these constraints are not always hard, but are due to other physical mechanisms that affect the overall forc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inarXiv.org
Main Author Giomi, Luca
Format Paper Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Ithaca Cornell University Library, arXiv.org 03.04.2013
Subjects
Biological materials
Geometric constraints
Physics - Biological Physics
Physics - Soft Condensed Matter
Substrates
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ISSN2331-8422
DOI10.48550/arxiv.1304.1077

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Summary:The shape of materials is often subject to a number of geometric constraints that limit the size of the system or fix the structure of its boundary. In soft and biological materials, however, these constraints are not always hard, but are due to other physical mechanisms that affect the overall force balance. A capillary film spanning a flexible piece of wire or a cell anchored to a compliant substrate by mean of adhesive contacts are examples of these softly constrained systems in the macroscopic and microscopic world. In this article I review some of the important mathematical and physical developments that contributed to our understanding of shape formation in softly constrained films and their recent application to the mechanics of adherent cells.
Bibliography:SourceType-Working Papers-1
ObjectType-Working Paper/Pre-Print-1
content type line 50
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.1304.1077