Figure 9.

Elasto-capillary model: a flexible beam (length , width ) is in contact with a flat substrate (hatched area). It is clamped at one end at a distance from the substrate and with an inclination angle . A portion of the beam is in solid–solid contact with the substrate. Another portion is separated from the substrate by a wedge-shaped liquid meniscus of volume V. The horizontal distance between the beam tip and the meniscus edge is denoted . The loads applied to the beam are the solid–solid contact reaction force , the associated friction force , surface tension at the contact line and the Laplace pressure , where R is the curvature radius of the meniscus. The resulting efforts at the clamp are , and . (Online version in colour.)