Theoretical Analysis on Nonlinear Buckling, Post-buckling of Slender Beams and Bi-stable Mechanisms

Compliant Mechanisms (CMs) are used to transfer motion, force and energy, taking advantages of the elastic deforma- tion of the involved compliant members. A branch of spe- cial type of elastic phenomenon called (post) buckling has been widely considered in CMs: avoiding buckling for better payload-bearing capacity and utilizing post-buckling to pro- duce multi-stable states. This paper digs into the essence of beam's bucking and post-bucking behaviors where we start from the famous Euler–Bernoulli beam theory and then ex- tend the mentioned linear theory into geometrically nonlin- ear one to handle multi-mode buckling problems via intro- ducing the concept of bifurcation theory. Five representative beam buckling cases are studied in this paper, followed by detailed theoretical investigations of their post-buckling be- haviors where the multi-state property has been proved. We finally propose a novel type of bi-stable mechanisms termed as Pre-buckled Bi-stable Mechanisms (PBMs) that integrate the features of both rigid and compliant mechanisms. The theoretical insights of PBMs are presented in detail for future studies. To the best of our knowledge, this paper is the first ever study on the theoretical derivation of the kinematic models of PBMs, which could be an important contribution to this field.

Nonlinear Postbuckling of Auxetic-Core Sandwich Toroidal Shell Segments with CNT-Reinforced Face Sheets Under External Pressure

Nonlinear buckling analysis for honeycomb auxetic-core sandwich toroidal shell segments with CNT-reinforced face sheets surrounded by elastic foundations under the radial pressure is presented in this study. The basic equation system of shells is established based on the von Kármán–Donnell nonlinear shell theory, combined with Stein and McElman approximation. Meanwhile, the foundation-shell elastic interaction is simulated by the foundation model based on the Pasternak assumption. The Galerkin procedure is utilized to achieve the pre-buckling and post-buckling responses for the shell, from which the radially critical buckling load is determined. Numerical analysis shows the various influences of auxetic-core layer, CNT-reinforced face sheets, and elastic foundation on the pre-buckling and postbuckling behavior of sandwich shells with CNT reinforced face sheets.