Abstract
We model in closed form a proven bistable shell made from a magnetic rubber composite material. In particular, we incorporate a non-axisymmetrical displacement field, and we capture the nonlinear coupling between the actuated shape and the magnetic flux distribution around the shell. We are able to verify the bistable nature of the shell and we explore its eversion during magnetic actuation. We show that axisymmetrical eversion is natural for a perfect shell but that non-axisymmetrical eversion rapidly emerges under very small initial imperfections, as observed in experiments and in a computational analysis. We confirm the non-uniform shapes of shell and we study the stability of eversion by considering how the landscape of total potential and magnetic energies of the system changes during actuation.
Highlights
In an earlier paper [1], the first author, with others, considered the actuation capabilities of a novel magnetic rubber composite material for developing ‘active’ shape-changing structures
We model in closed form a proven bistable shell made from a magnetic rubber composite material
We are able to verify the bistable nature of the shell and we explore its eversion during magnetic actuation
Summary
In an earlier paper [1], the first author, with others, considered the actuation capabilities of a novel magnetic rubber composite material for developing ‘active’ shape-changing structures. ‘paths’, and to explore how axisymmetry may be ‘lost’ during eversion The latter is not readily demonstrated by finite element analysis because the cap and magnetic field are nominally axisymmetrical; there has to be some kind of imperfection present for the simulation to follow an alternative equilibrium path of non-axisymmetrical shapes, see for example [5]. This was achieved w.r.t. figure 1 by imposing a small initial tilt of the cap about its pole relative to the magnetic field axis because of inevitable axial misalignments in practice.
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