A multi-stable wavy skin based on bi-stable laminates

This paper develops a multi-stable wavy skin which consists of tri-stable cells constructed by bi-stable laminates. The approach how to interlink bi-stable laminates and how to design the multi-stable wavy skin is presented. A multi-stable wavy skin consisting four tri-stable cells is fabricated to validate the design method. The experiments are conducted to measure the critical loads snapping the multi-stable skin. The snap-through processes among multiple states are simulated using finite element techniques. The results show a good correlation and give an intuitive understanding of multiple snap-through behavior. A close contact between the neighboring laminates is demonstrated and the smooth multi-stable wavy skin can be obtained when the cell deforms to the bent configuration. The feature highlights its potential application in morphing structures.