People: Isaac Omodia(myself), Dr. L. Mahadevan (PI), Dr. Kausik Das (Collaborator)

Location: Havard University, MA.

Adhesive techniques are widely known and used, the most popular of which are adhesive tapes. Here we explore a non-intuitive behavior that emerges when a thin elastic sheet is vibrated close to a surface. First described by Weston-Dawkes et al., this creates a strong adhesive force that is normal to the surface, with very little resistance to motion parallel to the surface. 

With the aim of constructing a theoretical framework for understanding this behavior, we quantify the adhesive force as a function of the vibration frequency, amplitude, and size of the thin elastic sheet.

The figures below show that the maximum adhesive force achieved by the contraption, before failure, depends on the motor frequency and disk radius, with higher frequencies and radius resulting in a higher max adhesive force. We also observe that increasing amplitude results in increased adhesive force. This trend occurs in all tested disk radii except for the smallest tested disk radius of 3cm.