Bistable Cylindrical Mechanical Meta-Structures With Energy Dissipation

Abstract

A bistable structure has two different stable shapes or positions for which the elastic energy of the structure reaches a local minimum value. In this paper, a bistable energy-absorbing cylindrical shell structure composed of multiple unit cells is presented. The intrinsic relationship between axial compression force and displacement of the unit cell was analyzed. It is found that the unit cell can be made to achieve negative stiffness or even bistable phenomenon by adjusting its parameters. A series of cylindrical shell structures were fabricated using 3D printer and the axial loading and unloading experiments were carried out. Based on the experimental test and FEA, the structural bistable phase transition response mechanism was analyzed. The results show that the force-displacement response curves of the multi-layer cylindrical shell for the loading and unloading processes do not coincide with each other but enclose a closed area, which confirms the energy dissipation of the structure under cyclic loading. The structure is proved to have good stability and repeatability, and it can fully recover to the original shape after deformation.