Transient Dynamics of a Miura-Origami Tube during Free Deployment

With excellent folding-induced deformability and shape reconfigurability, origami-based designs have shown great potential in developing deployable structures. Noting that origami deployment is essentially a dynamic process, while its dynamic behavior remains largely unexplored, owing to challenges in modeling. This research aims to advance the state of the art of origami deployable structures by exploring the transient dynamics under free deployment, with the Miura-origami tube being selected as the object of study because it possesses a relatively simple geometry, exceptional kinematic properties, and a wide range of potential applications. In detail, a preliminary free-deployment test is performed, which indicates that transient oscillations in the transverse direction are non-negligible, and tube deployment is no longer a single degree of freedom mechanism. Based on experimental observations, four assumptions are made for modeling purposes, anda 2N degree of freedom dynamic model is established for an N-cell Miura-origami tube to predict the transient oscillations in both deploying and transverse directions. Employing the settling times and the overshoot values as transient dynamic indexes, a comprehensive parameter study is then carried out. It reveals that both the physical and geometrical parameters will significantly affect the transient deploying dynamics, with some of the parameter dependence relationships being counterintuitive. The results show that the relationships between the transient dynamic behaviors and examined parameters are sometimes contradictory in the deploying and transverse directions, suggesting the necessity of a compromise in design. Overall, this research proposes a systematic method for constructing an origami dynamic model. Although only the Miura-origami tube is exemplified in detail, the methodologies are promising for application to other origami deployable systems because the established model is believed to be able to capture the essential characteristics of origami deployment, and meanwhile, hold good processability. In addition, comprehensive parameter analysis results could provide useful guidance for the design and optimization of Miura-origami deployable tubes with robust dynamic performance.