Model peeling dynamics driven by applied shear

Develop a theoretical model for the peeling dynamics of an adhered elastic sheet that detaches under the effect of an applied shear flow.

Background

The paper experimentally investigates the viscous peeling of a flexible elastic sheet adhered to a flat substrate and driven by a steady shear flow. It characterizes the critical peeling condition, finding that the threshold shear rate scales approximately as $\dot\gamma_c\sim B/(\eta L^3)$, where $B$ is the bending rigidity, $\eta$ is the fluid viscosity, and $L$ is the detached length.

Although the authors develop a model for reattachment in quiescent flow using lubrication theory and an adhesion–viscous dissipation balance, they do not obtain a corresponding model for the actively peeling case. Such a model would need to account for the power supplied by the external shear-driven hydrodynamic force, the evolving nonlinear geometry of the sheet, and the dynamics of the peeling front.