Waves, wrinkles and creases in deformed soft solids

Abstract

This article-based thesis comprises a collection of four articles, each of which constitutes a chapter written and formatted in pre-print manuscript form. The general aim underlying these articles is to model the large deformations of soft solids including soft biological tissues, with particular interest in wrinkle and crease formation, and in wave propagation. These wrinkles and creases occur frequently in nature, often as a result of an instability of a finite deformation. Waves can be used to characterise the mechanical properties of a soft solid, including biological soft tissues. These soft tissues may undergo large deformations in service or in testing, so we study the propagation of waves in a soft solid subject to an underlying finite deformation.