Geometric Modeling and Optimization of Multimaterial Compliant Mechanisms Using Multilayer Wide Curves

Abstract

Multimaterial compliant mechanisms enhance the performance of regular single-material compliant mechanisms by adding a new design option, material type variation. This paper introduces a geometric modeling method for multimaterial compliant mechanisms by using multilayer wide curves. Based on the introduced modeling method, a geometric optimization approach for multimaterial compliant mechanisms is proposed. A multilayer wide curve is a curve with variable cross sections and multiple materials. In this paper, every connection in the multimaterial compliant mechanism is represented by a multilayer wide curve, and the whole mechanism is modeled as a set of connected multilayer wide curves. The geometric modeling and the optimization of a multimaterial compliant mechanism are considered as the generation and the optimal selection of the control parameters of the corresponding multilayer wide curves. The deformation and performance of multimaterial compliant mechanisms are evaluated by the isoparametric degenerate-continuum nonlinear finite element procedure. The problem-dependent objectives are optimized, and the practical constraints are imposed during the optimization process. The effectiveness of the proposed geometric modeling and optimization procedures is verified by the demonstrated examples.