Folding simulation of rigid origami with Lagrange multiplier method

Abstract

Origami crease patterns are folding paths that transform flat sheets into spatial objects. Origami patterns with a single degree of freedom (DOF) have creases that fold simultaneously. More often, origami patterns have multiple DOFs and several substeps are required to sequentially fold such origami; at each substep, some creases fold and the rest remain fixed. In this study, we combine the loop closure constraint with the Lagrange multiplier method to account for the sequential folding of rigid origami of multiple DOFs by controlling the rotation of different sets of creases during successive substeps. This strategy is also applicable in modeling origami-inspired devices, where creases may be equipped with rotational springs and the folding process thus involves elastic energy. Several examples are presented to verify the proposed algorithms in tracing the sequential folding process as well as searching the equilibrium configurations of origami with rotational springs.