Numerical implementation of multiple peeling theory and its application to spider web anchorages

Adhesion of spider web anchorages has been studied in recent years, including the specific functionalities achieved through different architectures. To better understand the delamination mechanisms of these and other biological or artificial fibrillar adhesives, and how their adhesion can be optimized, we develop a novel numerical model to simulate the multiple peeling of structures with arbitrary branching and adhesion angles, including complex architectures. We validate the numerical model by comparing predictions with the recently developed Multiple Peeling Theory (MPT), which extends the energy-based single peeling theory of Kendall, finding excellent agreement even for complex structures. In particular we numerically confirm that a multiple peeling problem can be treated as the superposition of single peeling configurations even for complex structures. Finally, we apply the developed numerical approach to study spider web anchorages, showing how their function is achieved through optimal geometrical configurations.