Hinged beam elements for the topology design of compliant mechanisms using the ground structure approach

A Cellular Kirigami Morphing Wingbox Concept

“…The creation of a hinged configuration splits the cellular core into two different blocks, and therefore, the torsional stiffness of the hinged kirigami wingbox would be lowered compared to the unmorphed configuration. From a purely static point of view, the hinges should be considered also in terms of non-linear mechanical analysis, making, therefore, the design and simulations related to the kirigamibased wingbox dependent on issues highlighted for compliant cellular mechanisms (Mehta et al, 2009;Ramrakhyani et al, 2009). Moreover, the presence of embedded hinges provides also a complex mechanical response of the wingbox when considering divergencerelated problems, where a non-linear behavior of the wing with possible contact between the split blocks could occur (Bharti et al, 2007).…”

Finite element-based optimization procedure for an irregular domain with unstructured mesh

“…Numerous methodologies have been developed to address this area. One such approach is the ground structure method [ [11] , [12] , [13] , [14] , [15] , [16] ], which employs an extensive array of truss or beam elements within the defined design domain. The design variable, in this case, is the individual cross-sectional area.…”

Toward a Unified Design Approach for Both Compliant Mechanisms and Rigid-Body Mechanisms: Module Optimization

“…Dimensional synthesis involves determining the geometry of a mechanism to accomplish a specified task [1]. Approaches to type synthesis and approaches to concurrent type and dimensional synthesis can be found in the literature for both RBMs and CMs [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20].…”

“…Topology optimization was then further developed based on a truss (truss-only) ground structure model [14] and a beam (beam-only) ground structure model [12,13]. Ramrakhyani et al [15] developed a type of hinged-beam element that has a PJ at one end and an RJ on the other end. Similar to the truss ground structure approach for RBM synthesis, approaches for the synthesis of CMs based on the truss-only, beam-only, and hinged-beam ground structure models can be viewed as a link determination approach because the final design is determined by the remaining links in the design domain.…”