Swelling-induced eversion and flattening in naturally curved gel beams

Abstract This paper investigates swelling-induced eversion and flattening in curved bilayer gel beams. An explicit formula is produced to evaluate the change in curvature induced by large swelling deformations. The validity is tested against a fully coupled nonlinear three–dimensional stress-diffusion model. Limit situations for nearly-homogeneous and slightly curved beams are discussed.