Torsional buckling of a tape-spring: Review and renew

Abstract

Tape-springs – straight strips with transversely curved cross-sections – undergo a flattening of the cross-section upon bending, and accompanying torsional buckling in equal-sense bending which then “recedes” at greater deformation. The exact analytical solution for tape-spring bending was solved by Mansfield; however, the resulting expression for the twisting curvature at the onset and recession of torsional buckling cannot be solved in closed-form. Approximate closed-form expressions are therefore sought: firstly, by utilising Taylor series approximations of Mansfield’s extensive functions; and secondly, by assuming a uniform transverse curvature, thereby rendering the problem algebraic in nature, and deriving new governing expressions. Further approximations assume the cross-section does not deform upon bending, and that the tape-spring remains a developable surface in the inextensible limit of zero thickness. All approximate solutions are shown to agree closely with Mansfield’s solution at small curvatures, with the uniform curvature approximation also capturing the recession of torsional buckling to a reasonable degree of accuracy. The accuracy of the uniform curvature approximation is related to a pertinent dimensionless parameter, which governs the size of a boundary layer in Mansfield’s exact solution: as this parameter tends to infinity, the uniform curvature approximation and Mansfield’s exact solution are shown to converge; as it tends to zero, all solutions are shown to converge on the inextensible limit.