Flexible joints for a grid-based multi-stable composite morphing skin

A new method for the development of a grid-based multi-stable composite morphing skin is presented. The proposed method is to join a number of bi-stable composite patches in a grid by attaching flexible strips in between as joints. The purpose is to improve stable configurations and reduce marginal stable (meta-stable) configurations. The behaviour of this morphing skin is studied using a finite element analysis method and validated experimentally. The results show a good agreement between the modeling and the experiment. Each test case exhibits a high number of distinct stable configurations. For a 2 x 2 grid, all 16 stable configurations are obtained, which shows the effectiveness of this new method. These stable configurations present more flexible shapes applicable to practical morphing skin applications.