Kink Band Instability in Layered Structures M. Ahmer Wadee ⋆ , G. W. Hunt † , and M. A. Peletier ‡ ⋆ Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Imperial College of Science, Technology & Medicine, London SW7 2AZ, UK. Email: a.wadee@imperial.ac.uk † Centre for Nonlinear Mechanics, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK. Email: g.w.hunt@bath.ac.uk ‡ Centrum voor Wiskunde en Informatica, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Email: mark.peletier@cwi.nl Keywords (A) Kink Banding; (B) Layered Material; Structures; (C) Energy Methods; Stability and Bifurcation Abstract A recent two-dimensional prototype model for the initiation of kink banding in com- pressed layered structures is extended to embrace the two propagation mechanisms of band broadening and band progression. As well as interlayer friction, overburden pressure and layer bending energy, the characteristics of transverse layer compress- ibility and foundation stiffness are now included. Experiments on constrained layers of paper show good agreement with the predictions of angle of orientation, kink band width and post-kink load-deflection response obtained from the model. 1 Introduction Kink banding is a phenomenon seen on a variety of scales across the physical sciences. It should be considered as a potential failure mode for any layered or fibrous material, held together by external pressure or some form of internal Preprint submitted to J. Mech. Phys. Solids (Revised) 15 September 2003