Design and Analysis of Multistable Curvilinear-fiber Laminates Based on Continuous Fiber 3D Printing of Thermosetting Resin Matrix

A novel high-temperature resistant carbon fiber/bismaleimide resin composite shell is proposed and its bistable characteristics are studied in megathermal environment. Bistable structures are prepared with epoxy resin composites conventionally, which prone to undergone glass transition at high temperature. The study of high-temperature resistant bistable structure become necessary to suit aerospace field. In this work, the effect of elevated temperatures and different ply angles were investigated on curvatures and snap behaviors of carbon fiber/bismaleimide resin composite bistable shells through experiment and finite element analysis. These results provided significant understanding of morphing behaviors for the carbon fiber/bismaleimide bistable structure in megathermal environment. 

Bistable characteristics of deployable carbon fiber/bismaleimide resin composite shells in megathermal environments

Negative stiffness and Buffering Characteristics Analysis of Bistable Laminates with Initial Curing Curvature

Multistable laminates have been actively studied in recent years due to its potential applications in morphing and energy harvesting devices. Variable stiffness (VS) bistable laminates provide opportunities for further improvements in design space in comparison with constant stiffness bistable laminates. The snap-through process involving shape transition between the stable configurations is highly nonlinear in nature and exhibits rich dynamics. Exploiting the dynamic characteristics during the snap-through transition is of considerable interest in designing the morphing structural components. In this paper, we present a semi-analytical model based on Rayleigh–Ritz approach in conjunction with Hamilton’s principle to predict the natural frequencies of bistable VS laminates. The obtained results are compared with the results from the full geometrically nonlinear finite element (FE) model. The proposed FE model is further extended to study the dynamics of VS laminates subjected to external forces with different amplitudes. Subsequently, a parametric study is performed to explore the effect of different curvilinear fiber alignments on natural frequencies, mode shapes, free vibration characteristics and forced vibration characteristics (single-well and cross-well vibrations).

Benyu Ye

Papers

Multistable Morphing Structures Integrated with Non-Symmetric/Antisymmetric-Layup Connected Laminates