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A bistable shell shown in its initial and coiled configuration

From:
S. D. Guest and S. Pellegrino (Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1PZ, UK), “Analytical models for bistable cylindrical shells”, Proceedings of the Royal Society A, Vol. 462, pp 839-854, 2006, doi: 10.1098/rspa.2005.1598

ABSTRACT: Thin cylindrical shell structures can show interesting bistable behaviour. If made unstressed from isotropic materials they are only stable in the initial configuration, but if made from fibre-reinforced composites they may also have a second, stable configuration. If the layup of the composite is antisymmetric, this alternative stable configuration forms a tight coil; if the layup is symmetric the alternative stable configuration is helical. A simple two-parameter model for these structure is presented that is able to distinguish between these different behaviours.

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