An investigation into the static configurations and snapthrough response of clamped hybrid bistable symmetric laminates

Abstract

This paper presents a numerical analysis of the room-temperature shapes and snapthrough response of thermally induced hybrid bistable symmetric laminates. The bistable laminate is clamped at one end and free at the other end to extend the applications of bistable laminates to non-free-free boundary conditions. The hybrid layup resolves the issue of losing the bistability of the laminate when attached to a larger structure or clamped. Bidirectional (BD) glass-epoxy layers are symmetrically imbedded in the laminate’s layup to trigger the bistability. An approximate analytical model that is based on the Rayleigh-Ritz method along with the ABAQUS FE package are used in the analysis. The model is validated against the results available in the literature and a good agreement is obtained. The significance of the BD layer’s parameters on the thermally induced room-temperature shapes and the snapthrough response is examined. Three parameters are considered: the BD layers’ width, thickness, and location from the laminate’s center. It is found out that the three parameters greatly affect the static equilibrium shapes and the snapthrough/snapback response. This analysis complements the ongoing research on the bistable laminates for morphing applications.