1. Numerical study of shearing of a microfibre during friction testing of a microfibre array by Ajeet Kumar, and Chung-Yuen Hui Proceedings A Volume 467(2129):1372-1389 May 8, 2011 ©2011 by The Royal Society

2. Schematic of a rod undergoing deformation from its straight state reference configuration, inset shows forces and moments acting at the end cross sections of a rod segment. Ajeet Kumar, and Chung-Yuen Hui Proc. R. Soc. A 2011;467:1372-1389 ©2011 by The Royal Society

3. Part (a) shows how the normalized shear force depends on the normalized shear displacement during a fixed normal load test. Ajeet Kumar, and Chung-Yuen Hui Proc. R. Soc. A 2011;467:1372-1389 ©2011 by The Royal Society

4. Buckling load (normalized by Euler buckling load for clamped–clamped straight rod) versus normalized shear displacement for clamped–clamped (solid line) and clamped–pinned (dashed- dotted) boundary conditions. Ajeet Kumar, and Chung-Yuen Hui Proc. R. Soc. A 2011;467:1372-1389 ©2011 by The Royal Society

5. First unstable configuration as the fibre is being sheared at a fixed normalized normal load = −0.44; clamped–clamped rod (solid line); clamped–pinned rod (dashed-dotted). Ajeet Kumar, and Chung-Yuen Hui Proc. R. Soc. A 2011;467:1372-1389 ©2011 by The Royal Society

6. Contour plots at several fixed values of initial compressive preload during a displacement- controlled test: (a) normalized normal force versus normalized shear displacement; (b) normalized shear force versus normalized shear displacement. Ajeet Kumar, and Chung-Yuen Hui Proc. R. Soc. A 2011;467:1372-1389 ©2011 by The Royal Society

7. Contour plots for normalized shear force versus normalized normal load during displacement- controlled test for several values of initial compressive preload. Ajeet Kumar, and Chung-Yuen Hui Proc. R. Soc. A 2011;467:1372-1389 ©2011 by The Royal Society

8. Critical shear force (normalized) versus initial compressive preload (normalized) at several values of normalized critical normal load. Ajeet Kumar, and Chung-Yuen Hui Proc. R. Soc. A 2011;467:1372-1389 ©2011 by The Royal Society