On introducing conicity in tubular origami metastructures for programming the nonlinear dynamics in an expanded design space

Abstract

Kresling origami-based metamaterials have gained significant attention lately due to their mechanical advantages like deployability, energy manipulation and absorption, vibration control and tailorable constitutive behavior. While previous investigations have primarily focused on kinematics and statics, as most engineering applications experience dynamic conditions, few recent studies have examined the dynamic performance including transient and linear vibration. In this paper, we computationally investigate the nonlinear dynamics of Kresling origami in an expanded design space through the introduction of conical architecture. The conical Kresling origami module (CKOM) leads to a highly nonlinear behavior, originating from the geometrical constraints. This makes the dynamic behavior under specific natures of external disturbance more complex and chaotic, while programmable as a function of the geometrical features. CKOM provides an excellent support system and better stability at period-n attractor, which means that the system behaves in the same pattern after n-period of oscillation. It is further noted that the CKOM system is an elastically foldable truss-like idealized structure, which often exhibits interesting static behavior like bi-stability. Programmability in the expanded design space of conicity and other geometrical parametric features of the Kresling tubular origami would lead to widespread applications including spacecraft, aircraft wings, robotics, vehicles, and various deployable structures across the length scales.