Design And Analysis Of Bistable Structures Based On Warped Cantilever Beams

A bi-stable structure is a structure with two stable configurations,which has certain carrying capacity in both configurations.A bi-stable structure can produce large deformation when external load is applied.When external load is larger than the critical load,the two stable configurations of the bi-stable structure can jump to each other with no further loading.The characteristic of bi-stable structure makes it good prospects in the application on the energy harvesting,impact energy absorption and vibration isolation.Based on the warping deformation of cantilever beam,this paper designs the cantilever with two overhanging beams.The dimensions and material parameters of the two overhanging beams are designed,and cantilever structures with bi-stable property are manufactured based on the warping mechanism of the cantilever beam.Experimental and finite element analysis are carried out in this paper to study the two stable configurations and the snap-through load of the bi-stable structure.In this paper,displacement control is applied to control the free end of the two overhanging beam to produce warping deformation.A bi-stable structure with symmetric mechanical properties is designed based on the warping deformation of the cantilever beam.The parameters of two overhanging beams are designed,and bi-stable structures with different materials and dimensions are prepared by experiments.The two stable configurations of the warping cantilever structure are obtained by applying the displacement on the free ends of the overhanging beams,the snap-through load of the structure is also recorded.The basic mechanical properties of the cantilever structure with bi-stable performance is analyzed.The influence of materials and dimensions of two overhanging beam on the mechanical properties of the cantilever is also studied.The finite element analysis is used to simulate the warping deformation of the overhanging beams and the snap-through process of the cantilever structure.Finally,the fixed end shape and the free end shape of the cantilever structure are designed in this paper to study the number of overhang beams on the stable configurations.The finite element analysis is used to simulate different stable configurations of the cantilever structures.The stiffness of the cantilever structure is also designed through serial or parallel overhanging beams.The finite element method is used to predict the stiffness of the warping cantilever structure with serial or parallel overhanging beams and verifies the stiffness of the cantilever structure is increased through serial or parallel overhanging beams.