The life of a wrinkle on a roller

We present preliminary experimental and theoretical results on the nucleation and motion of wrinkles in thin sheets transiting rotating surfaces, a manufacturing-inspired problem. The draping of clothing illustrates the static form of this problem, in which wrinkles are smoothed by Gaussian effects. The dynamic problem, in which the sheets move without appreciable slippage over curved surfaces, introduces additional physics at the boundary in the form of "normal entry" kinematics. We document the nucleation, motion, reorientation, and disappearance of wrinkles on rollers and present simple analytical models to describe the observed behavior.