For my semester project, I will investigate equilibrium geometries of ripples in an elastic sheet. In order to do so, I will need to learn how to study out of plane bending of a thin membrane with ABAQUS. The project can be divided into the following stages:

1. Set up the membrane geometry model in ABAQUS

2. Apply relevant boundary conditions and tractions

3. Set up the job

4. Run the job, and post-process

Recent experiments by Arnold et al. (ChemPhysChem, vol. 5, 2004, p383 ) revealed that a distance of less than 58-73 nm between receptor-ligand bonds is necessary to ensure focal adhesion in cells adhering to ligand-coated substrate. An elegant solution to this problem is supplied by Lin, Inamdar, and Freund. JMPS, 2008, 56, 242 , J. Mat. Sci. 2007, 42, 8907 .