Spatial resolution of wrinkle patterns in thin elastic sheets at finite strain

Koiter's nonlinear plate theory is used to simulate the wrinkling patterns observed in stretched thin elastic sheets. The phenomenon considered is associated with wrinkle patterns distributed over the interior of the sheet, in regions where the stretching and bending energies are of the same order of magnitude. Numerical solutions to several equilibrium boundary-value problems are obtained by the method of dynamic relaxation based on a dissipative dynamical system and compared with existing experimental, numerical, and analytical results.