Mechanics of two filaments in tight orthogonal contact

Significance Knots, knits, and weaves have been technologically essential across civilizations, their significance remains undiminished today. In these systems, it is challenging to understand the equilibria of deformable filaments with tight contacts due intricate geometry touching tubular volumes small, but nonvanishing, radius. This article considers a specific canonical context for in contact: orthogonal clasp. We quantify significant mismatches between physical reality clasps simplifying assumptions underpinning conventional descriptive models, such as classic capstan equation. Nevertheless, we show that simple, geometric model qualitatively captures striking localization patterns observed contact-pressure fields.