Numerical and experimental study on morphing bi-stable composite laminates actuated by a heating method

Abstract This paper presents a new heating actuation method to induce the snap-through phenomenon of bi-stable laminates by manipulating the residual stress in laminates. The mechanism of the heating actuation method is analyzed, and the snap-through process is simulated by the finite element method. The heating actuation experiments on two types of laminates with different stacking sequences are performed. Good agreement is obtained between the experimental data and the finite element analysis (FEA). Subsequently, the heating actuation method is applied to several different bi-stable laminates and investigated by FEA. The FEA results show that this heating actuation method is an effective way to induce the snap-through phenomenon of bi-stable laminates of different thicknesses, sizes and shapes.