Experimental study on bistable behaviour of anti-symmetric laminated cylindrical shells in thermal environments

Anti-symmetric laminated [+α/−α]n cylindrical shell (ALCS) is a type of bistable composite structures that can deform between two stable shapes under an external loading. The maximum snap loads and shape deformations in varying thermal environments play a significant role in their bistable characteristic. This paper presents an experimental study on the bistable behaviour of ALCSs at 20 °C, 40 °C, 60 °C, and 80 °C. The load-displacement curves are obtained by using a testing machine with a thermal chamber. The effect of the temperature variation on the shell's curvatures is also investigated by digital image processing technique. The obtained experimental results show the same trend as the analytical and numerical results. The thermal influence on the bistable behaviour in a local temperature field is also studied in detail. The experimental investigations presented in this paper is of great importance in the engineering design and applications of morphing structures manufactured from ALCSs.