Delamination of an elastic circular membrane under hydrostatic pressure

A mathematical model is constructed with the goal of providing criteria to determine the critical internal pressure at which an elastic membrane bonded to a plate (the substrate) separates from the plate; this critical pressure corresponds physically to the internal pressure at which the glue bond which holds the edge of an initially circular membrane (fixed along the boundary of a hole in the plate, of radius a) will begin to fracture. Unlike much of the previous work in this area, no assumption is made that the inflated membrane (blister) takes the shape of a spherical cap and the analytical criterion for delamination appears to be new.