Fabrication, dynamic properties and multi-objective optimization of a metal origami tube with Miura sheets

Abstract Using a two-dimensional (2D) metal sheet to design structures exhibiting different dynamic properties can show prolonged promising for actual engineering. In this study, a Miura tube is first designed and fabricated by using a five-step strategy. The structure is constructed by carefully stacking two identical brass Miura sheets into one tube. A finite element (FE) model with high-fidelity has been developed to predict the natural frequencies (NFs) of the Miura tube and simulation results have been compared with the data from experiments. The dynamic responses of the Miura tube are then numerically investigated by using the verified FE model. Finally, a multi-objective optimization strategy is developed to optimize the Miura tube in order to maximize the fundamental frequency and minimize the dynamic displacement simultaneously. Results show that the dynamic properties of the Miura tube, made from one same metal sheet, can be significantly altered in a wide range by simply changing its geometric parameters. Moreover, the proposed structure can be easily fabricated from a single thin sheet made of one material and simultaneously owns better mechanical properties than the Miura sheet.