Abstract
Composite materials can enhance morphing and deployable structure capability due to their high degree of tailorability and their favourable stiffness- and strength-to-weight ratios. One such structure, the bistable helical lattice, is augmented in current work. To date this type of structure, shows promise in aerospace systems which require linear actuation. Herein, morphing capabilities are enhanced by removing traditional mechanical fasteners at the joints, and replacing them with magnets which allow detachment and re-attachment in a controlled, purposeful way. Within a helical lattice structure, joint detachment creates new functionality by allowing a new topology to be formed which is used to convert a linear actuator to one that is curved and then back again, when the joints are reattached. The required force to actuate the topological change is characterised through the use of both finite element analysis and experimental testing. The structural response is observed through the manufacture and testing of a demonstrator which replaces the traditional joints with a series of magnets in order to capture this variable topology behaviour.
Highlights
Morphing structures expand functionality of traditional engineering structures by enabling reconfiguration of their geometries [1], stiffnesses [2,3] or topology [4]
The small initial difference between the finite element (FE) results and the experimental data arises due to the initial small displacement of the test fixture and the minor extension of wire which transfers the force from the Tinius Olsen to the lattice structure
A novel method for increasing the morphing capabilities of a composite lattice structure has been presented by providing a topological change
Summary
Morphing structures expand functionality of traditional engineering structures by enabling reconfiguration of their geometries [1], stiffnesses [2,3] or topology [4]. Composite materials enable morphing structures to be anisotropically tailored to a high degree of fidelity whilst decreasing structural mass when compared to traditional aerospace materials [5,6]. Multistable composite morphing structures represent a class of structure that exhibit a number of alternative stable configurations [5]. The advantage of multistability is that energy is not required to maintain a structure in each stable shape and is only required for actuations purposes. Aerospace applications offer significant opportunity for adoption of morphing composite structures due to the large cost savings that exist when structural mass is reduced.
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