Energy Landscape and Stability of Origami-Inspired Deployable Structures

科学家、数学家和工程师正引领着将折纸从折纸艺术转变为创新的工程设计的强烈兴趣，以利用其独特的特性来创建具有可调节特性的可展开结构。为了充分利用折纸在展开中的示范能力，有两个基本的力学问题需要深入研究，即展开的折纸结构的变形和稳定性。在这方面，该奖项支持基础研究，以调查折纸结构的能量景观和研究可变形折纸结构的稳定性。对上述问题的成功研究将使折纸在更广泛的应用中得到应用，范围包括航空航天和民用应用的可展开结构、植入式医疗设备、日用品和玩具。因此，本研究将促进折纸科学与工程的进步，促进国家的健康、繁荣和福祉。除了研究活动，教育和外展计划还旨在使广泛的群体受益，从与当地学区和科学中心合作的K-12学生，通过大学研究计划的本科生，到通过高级教学和研究的研究生。可部署性一直是学习折纸结构的主要动机之一。有一些努力是为了理解以折叠纸张为灵感的展开过程的机制。然而，展开结构的稳定性还没有被研究，并且如文献报道的那样，展开的折纸结构可能会沿着展开路径坍塌。本研究试图通过研究可变形折纸结构的稳定性来填补这一空白。具体地说，它将侧重于部署和折叠流程应该采取两种不同的路径这一想法。为了研究可变形折纸图案的能量分布和研究折纸结构的各种稳定现象，包括：双稳态、多稳态和可调多稳态，将开发一个通用的、健壮的有限元平台。从能源景观/稳定性研究中获得的平台和知识也将被用于通过不同种类的折纸结构(从1D管状结构、2D板材和3D结构)的不同集成来创造具有可调节的可展开和可折叠的折纸灵感的新的超材料。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Scientists, mathematicians, and engineers are leading a vigorous interest to transform origami from the art of paper folding to innovative engineering design for harnessing its unique properties to create deployable structures with tunable properties. To fully harness origami's exemplar capabilities in deployment, there are two fundamental mechanics problems that need to be thoroughly studied, namely, deformation and stability of deployed origami structures. In this regard, this award supports fundamental research to investigate the energy landscapes of origami structures and to study the stability of the deformable origami structures. Successful investigations of the above problems will bring origami to be used in much broader applications, ranging from deployable structures for aerospace and civil applications, implantable medical devices, daily essentials, and toys. As a result, this research will promote the progress of the science and engineering of origami, and advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare. In addition to the research activities, the education and outreach programs aim to benefit a broad range of groups, from K-12 students through partnership with the local school district and science center and undergraduates through a university research initiative to graduate students through advanced teaching and research.Deployability has been one of the main motivations to study origami structures. There are some efforts to understand the mechanisms for the deploying process using paper folding as inspiration. However, the stability of the deployed structure has not been studied yet and, as reported in the literature, a deployed origami structure can potentially collapse along the deploying path. This research attempts to fill this gap by studying the stability of deformable origami structures. Specifically, it will focus on the idea that deploying and collapsing processes should take two different paths. A versatile and robust finite element platform will be developed to study the energy landscape of deformable origami patterns and investigate various stability phenomena of origami structures, including: bistable, multi-stable, and tunable multi-stable states. The platform and knowledge gained from the energy landscape/stability study will also be used to create new origami-inspired metamaterials with tunable deployability and collapsibility through heterogeneous integration of various origami structures, ranging from 1D tubular structures, 2D plates, and 3D structures.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.