Elastocapillary Swelling: When coalesced structures curl apart

We consider the elastocapillary rise between swellable structures using a favorable solvent. We study the elastocapillary rise and subsequent swelling-induced bending, and characterize the dynamic deformations and resulting equilibrium configurations for various beam geometries. Our analysis highlights the importance of two characteristic length scales, and uses these lengths to predict both the elastocapillary rise and the critical curvature for peeling. We predict the transition between coalescence dominated beams and bending dominated beams using a balance of bending, stretching, and surface energies, and use a relaxed constraint on Euler's elastica to describe the fluid ratcheting.