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Abstract

Fibrous materials are very commonplace in current technological applications.
The study of their mechanics is an interesting topic that has previously been
inspired by applications in the textile and paper industries, but also by modern
composite materials. In many applications, humidity of the ambient atmosphere
leads to condensation of liquid in a fiber network. Once liquid
interfaces form, capillary effects lead to internal mechanical stresses.
In this work, we investigate the effects of capillary stresses on disordered,
two-dimensional networks of elastic fibers. To that end, we first study the
morphologies and induced stresses of a liquid bridge forming between two
cylindrical fibers. Then, we introduce a two-dimensional model system for
disordered fiber networks with liquid interactions taking place at fiber crossings.
After an overview of the topological properties of such a model network,
we introduce a method for computer simulation of an elastic network in the
presence of a wetting liquid that can accumulate in the fiber interstices and
thereby deform the network. We test the model by comparison with analytical
theory in a simple test case, and finally we present computer experiments
characterizing the network deformation as a function of the most important
model parameters, the fiber density and the capillary interaction strength.