Thin sheets have long been known to experience an increase in stiffness when they are bent, buckled, or assembled into smaller interlocking structures. We introduce a unique orientation for coupling rigidly foldable origami tubes in a "zipper" fashion that substantially increases the system stiffness and permits only one flexible deformation mode through which the structure can deploy. The flexible deployment of the tubular structures is permitted by localized bending of the origami along prescribed fold lines. All other deformation modes, such as global bending and twisting of the structural system, are substantially stiffer because the tubular assemblages are overconstrained and the thin sheets become engaged in tension and compression. The zipper-coupled tubes yield an unusually large eigenvalue bandgap that represents the unique difference in stiffness between deformation modes. Furthermore, we couple compatible origami tubes into a variety of cellular assemblages that can enhance mechanical characteristics and geometric versatility, leading to a potential design paradigm for structures and metamaterials that can be deployed, stiffened, and tuned. The enhanced mechanical properties, versatility, and adaptivity of these thin sheet systems can provide practical solutions of varying geometric scales in science and engineering.

https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/112/40/12321.full.pdf

Origami tubes assembled into stiff, yet reconfigurable structures and metamaterials

Origami, the ancient art of paper folding, has inspired the design of engineering devices and structures for decades. The underlying principles of origami are very general, which has led to applications ranging from cardboard containers to deployable space structures. More recently, researchers have become interested in the use of active materials (i.e., those that convert various forms of energy into mechanical work) to effect the desired folding behavior. When used in a suitable geometry, active materials allow engineers to create self-folding structures. Such structures are capable of performing folding and/or unfolding operations without being kinematically manipulated by external forces or moments. This is advantageous for many applications including space systems, underwater robotics, small scale devices, and self-assembling systems. This article is a survey and analysis of prior work on active self-folding structures as well as methods and tools available for the design of folding structures in general and self-folding structures in particular. The goal is to provide researchers and practitioners with a systematic view of the state-of-the-art in this important and evolving area. Unifying structural principles for active self-folding structures are identified and used as a basis for a quantitative and qualitative comparison of numerous classes of active materials. Design considerations specific to folded structures are examined, including the issues of crease pattern identification and fold kinematics. Although few tools have been created with active materials in mind, many of them are useful in the overall design process for active self-folding structures. Finally, the article concludes with a discussion of open questions for the field of origami-inspired engineering.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0964-1726/23/9/094001/pdf

Origami-inspired active structures: a synthesis and review

This paper investigates comprehensive knowledge regarding joining CFRP and aluminium alloys in available literature in terms of available methods, bonding processing and mechanism and properties. The methods employed comprise the use of adhesive, self-piercing rivet, bolt, clinching and welding to join only CFRP and aluminium alloys. The non-thermal joining methods received great attention though the welding process has high potential in joining these materials. Except adhesive bonding and welding, other joining methods require the penetration of metallic pins through joining parts and therefore, surface preparation is unimportant. No model is found to predict the properties of jointed structures, which makes it difficult to select one over another in applications. The choice of bonding methods depends primarily on the specific applications. The load-bearing mechanism of bolted joints is predominantly the friction that is the first stage resistance. Hybrid joints performance is enhanced by combining rivets, clinch or bolts with adhesives.

/pdf/joining-of-carbon-fibre-reinforced-polymer-cfrp-composites-b1dn74dni2.pdf

Joining of carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites and aluminium alloys-A review

A bottom-up, multiscale modeling approach is presented to carry out high-fidelity virtual mechanical tests of composite materials and structures. The strategy begins with the in situ measurement of the matrix and interface mechanical properties at the nanometer-micrometer range to build up a ladder of the numerical simulations, which take into account the relevant deformation and failure mechanisms at different length scales relevant to individual plies, laminates and components. The main features of each simulation step and the information transferred between length scales are described in detail as well as the current limitations and the areas for further development. Finally, the roadmap for the extension of the current strategy to include functional properties and processing into the simulation scheme is delineated.

Multiscale modeling of composite materials: a roadmap towards virtual testing

In this paper we present a novel engineering application of Origami, using it for both the exibility and the rigidity the folding patterns provide. The proposed Folded Textured Sheets have several inter- esting mechanical properties. The folding patterns are modelled as a pin-jointed framework, which allows the use of established structural engineering methods to gain insight into the kinematics of the folded sheet. The kinematic analysis can be naturally developed into a sti - ness matrix approach; by studying its softest eigenmodes, important deformations of a partially folded sheet can be found, which aids in the understanding of Origami sheets for engineering applications.

http://www2.eng.cam.ac.uk/~sdg/preprint/5OSME.pdf

Origami folding: A Structural Engineering Approach

Review: Computational methods for bird strike simulations: A review

Sandwich structures with textile-reinforced composite foldcores under impact loads

https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00608807/document

Low velocity impact on CFRP plates with compressive preload: Test and modelling

Virtual testing of sandwich core structures using dynamic finite element simulations

The characterisation of the mechanical behaviour of folded core structures for advanced sandwich composites under flatwise compression load using a virtual testing approach is presented. In this context dynamic compression test simulations with the explicit solvers PAM-CRASH and LS-DYNA are compared to experimental data of two different folded core structures made of aramid paper and carbon fibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP). The focus of the investigations is the constitutive modelling of the cell wall material, the consideration of imperfections and the representation of cell wall buckling, folding or crushing phenomena. The consistency of the numerical results shows that this can be a promising and efficient approach for the determination of the effective mechanical properties and a cell geometry optimisation of folded core structures.

/pdf/experimental-and-numerical-analysis-of-composite-folded-3a8xgaidbq.pdf

Sebastian Heimbs

Papers

Review: Computational methods for bird strike simulations: A review

Sandwich structures with textile-reinforced composite foldcores under impact loads

Low velocity impact on CFRP plates with compressive preload: Test and modelling

Virtual testing of sandwich core structures using dynamic finite element simulations

Experimental and Numerical Analysis of Composite Folded Sandwich Core Structures Under Compression