Investigations into the compressive behavior of a Miura-ori folded structure
Author:
Iona Pitkin ’25Co-Authors:
Faculty Mentor(s):
Kelly Salyards, Civil and Environmental EngineeringFunding Source:
Kalman Fund for Undergraduate Research in the SciencesAbstract
Structural origami is an emerging field that combines the Japanese art of paper folding known as origami with structural engineering in order to assess the structures that can be created and their enhanced properties, such as compressive capacity and deformation pattern. Using an origami fold known as Miura-ori, a series of geometrical models were created representing three different angles along with two different thicknesses of the thin walls. The specimens were printed using plastic material called Polylactic Acid (PLA). A testing jig was designed and fabricated for the origami specimens to model a boundary condition with no translation during testing. The resulting deformation from compression testing appeared to follow a relatively consistent pattern of buckling, with some cracking and splitting happening on one edge. The specimens with a shallower angle could withstand less load. This correlates with elastic buckling theory as the height and width of the plates in these specimens are greater, and larger plates will buckle at a lower load. Further testing is needed to ensure the repeatability of these results. In addition, future research is needed to consider the deformation behavior of the individual plates to confirm whether the failure mode is buckling or a combination of crushing and buckling.