How a curved elastic strip opens.

An elastic strip is transversely clamped in a curved frame. The induced curvature decreases as the strip opens and connects to its flat natural shape. Various ribbon profiles are measured and the scaling law for the opening length validates a description where the in-plane stretching gradually relaxes the bending stress. An analytical model of the strip profile is proposed and a quantitative agreement is found with both experiments and simulations of the plates equations. This result provides a unique illustration of smooth nondevelopable solutions in thin sheets.