Folding analysis for thick origami with kinematic frame models concerning gravity

Abstract

Thickness and gravity are both the significant problems and challenges for origami structures in the field of building construction. This paper described a numerical folding analysis method to investigate the kinematic characteristics of thick origami using movable frame structural models driven by the external forces. The numeric methodology of the folding analysis is based on the generalized inverse theory. Therefore, both the morphing modes and the folding paths can be obtained in the environment of gravity through introducing the nodal forces directly. A general modeling approach is proposed to establish thick origami models using kinematic frames. To demonstrate the proposed method, single-DOF and multi-DOF examples are investigated. The folding procedures are obtained under the external forces, and the rigid motion modes are discussed. The presented method shows feasibility of analyzing the folding process of thick origami, which can help assess the practical rapid construction tasks in the future.