The peculiar nonlinear mechanical behaviour of tensegrity structures and their engineering applications have attracted considerable interest in the last two decades. However, the difficulties in their traditional fabrication and assembling methods represent current limitations to their widespread use. This paper presents a novel design and fabrication procedure for bistable tensegrity-like units. Starting from the classical triangular tensegrity prism and using stereolithography technology, a double tensegrity-like unit was designed and realised monolithically as a compliant mechanism. High repeatability of compression tests confirmed the activation of the designed bistable twisting mechanism in large displacements, proving that the bistability of a tensegrity-like unit with null selfstress and no cables can dependably be achieved. Numerical simulations showed that a reduced-order stick-and-spring model is able to provide predictions on the nonlinear mechanical behaviour of the unit in close agreement with experimental results. Low relative density and bistable characteristics make this type of tensegrity-like unit suitable to manufacture highly-customisable multistable metamaterials. The proposed procedure could be applied to transform and additively manufacture other types of tensegrity structures with different nonlinear responses into corresponding tensegrity-like versions.

Intrigila, C., Micheletti, A., Nodargi, N., Artioli, E., Bisegna, P. (2022). Fabrication and experimental characterisation of a bistable tensegrity-like unit for lattice metamaterials. ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING, 57 [10.1016/j.addma.2022.102946].

Fabrication and experimental characterisation of a bistable tensegrity-like unit for lattice metamaterials

Micheletti, A;Nodargi, NA;Artioli, E;Bisegna, P
2022-01-01

Abstract

The peculiar nonlinear mechanical behaviour of tensegrity structures and their engineering applications have attracted considerable interest in the last two decades. However, the difficulties in their traditional fabrication and assembling methods represent current limitations to their widespread use. This paper presents a novel design and fabrication procedure for bistable tensegrity-like units. Starting from the classical triangular tensegrity prism and using stereolithography technology, a double tensegrity-like unit was designed and realised monolithically as a compliant mechanism. High repeatability of compression tests confirmed the activation of the designed bistable twisting mechanism in large displacements, proving that the bistability of a tensegrity-like unit with null selfstress and no cables can dependably be achieved. Numerical simulations showed that a reduced-order stick-and-spring model is able to provide predictions on the nonlinear mechanical behaviour of the unit in close agreement with experimental results. Low relative density and bistable characteristics make this type of tensegrity-like unit suitable to manufacture highly-customisable multistable metamaterials. The proposed procedure could be applied to transform and additively manufacture other types of tensegrity structures with different nonlinear responses into corresponding tensegrity-like versions.
2022
Pubblicato
Rilevanza internazionale
Articolo
Esperti anonimi
Settore ICAR/08 - SCIENZA DELLE COSTRUZIONI
English
Bistable systems
Additive manufacturing
3D printing
Tensegrity
Compression test
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2214860422003414
Intrigila, C., Micheletti, A., Nodargi, N., Artioli, E., Bisegna, P. (2022). Fabrication and experimental characterisation of a bistable tensegrity-like unit for lattice metamaterials. ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING, 57 [10.1016/j.addma.2022.102946].
Intrigila, C; Micheletti, A; Nodargi, N; Artioli, E; Bisegna, P
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2108/303455
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