Tailored Bistability in Mechanically-Prestressed Laminated Composites through Planform Design

摘要

Bistable composites are attractive for morphing structures because they can hold deformed shapes without actuationand can be driven by compact, embedded smart actuators such as piezoelectric laminae and shape memoryalloys. Mechanically-prestressed bistable composites exhibit weakly-coupled cylindrical shapes when their prestressedlaminae are orthogonal to each other. High-order analytical models have been developed to model thestability and actuation of mechanically-prestressed composites with two sources of residual stress. Based on thesemodels, this paper presents a study on the eu000bect of planform shape on shape-bifurcation phenomena in bistableplates. A high-order analytical model is presented and the shapes of composites with linearly-tapered planformare calculated. Model-based parametric studies are presented to calculate the sensitivity of stable shapes andactuation forces to variations in planform taper, spatial positions of the prestressed layers, and aspect ratio. Theresults guide the selection of geometric parameters for the design of bistable composites.