Instability of a compressed elastic film on a viscous layer

A flat, compressed elastic film on a viscous layer is unstable. The film can form wrinkles to reduce the elastic energy. A linear perturbation analysis is performed to determine the critical wave number and the growth rate of the unstable modes. While the viscous layer has no effect on the critical wave number, its viscosity and thickness set the time scale for the growth of the perturbations. The fastest growing wave number and the corresponding growth rate are obtained as functions of the compressive strain and the thickness ratio between the viscous layer and the elastic film. The present analysis is valid for all thickness range of the viscous layer. In the limits of infinitely thick and thin viscous layers, the results reduce to those obtained in the previous studies. 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.