In response to the reviewers’ comments: (1) We initially attempted to use the bending modulus implied from Boal and Ng’s study, however we found that during simulations this value seemed to be too low.
The authors find that results at beta = 0 are most similar to the experimental reticulate patterns. In the force model, there are three forces: elastic, gliding, and contact/cohesion. The contact/cohesion force is presented in equation 12, and is proportional to epsilon. After Equation 23, the authors define beta = epsilon/(zeta⋅v0), implying that there will be no contact/cohesion forces when beta = 0. However, in the results of Figures 3, 4, and 5 the results for beta = 0 clearly show interactions between the filaments. The fourth paragraph of section 2.9 describes a hard-core interaction, which appears to be the source of the patterns when beta = 0. This hard-core interaction should be mentioned after Equation 12, since it is not simply an implementation issue but the dominant interaction with beta = 0.