  Adhesive attachment systems consisting of multiple tapes or strands are
commonly found in nature, for example in spider web anchorages or in mussel
byssal threads, and their structure has been found to be ingeniously
architected in order to optimize mechanical properties, in particular to
maximize dissipated energy before full detachment. These properties emerge from
the complex interplay between mechanical and geometric parameters, including
tape stiffness, adhesive energy, attached and detached lengths and peeling
angles, which determine the occurrence of three main mechanisms: elastic
deformation, interface delamination and tape fracture. In this paper, we
introduce a formalism to evaluate the mechanical performance of multiple tape
attachments in different parameter ranges, allowing to predict the
corresponding detachment behaviour. We also introduce a numerical model to
simulate the complex multiple peeling behaviour of complex structures,
illustrating its predictions in the case of the staple-pin architecture. We
expect the presented formalism and numerical model to provide important tools
for the design of bioinspired adhesive systems with tunable or optimized
detachment properties.
