Abstract Flexible beams of variable effective length, serve both transmission and actuation functionalities in compliant mechanisms, have been employed in many devices, e.g., thermal actuators and continuum robots. This difunctional feature is favorable when utilized for operations in confined space. However, the length variation introduces modeling difficulties, which poses a new challenge to designers. To accurate model flexible beams of variable effective length and characterize the behaviors of associated compliant mechanisms form the primary objectives of this study. The chained beam constraint model is revisited and extended to model beams of variable effective length. Modeling of a chevron shape thermal in-plane microactuator and a continuum mechanism are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. The predicted results have a high degree of accuracy as compared to experimental results and nonlinear finite element results.

中文翻译：

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包含可变有效长度柔性梁的柔顺机构的动静力学建模和表征

摘要 可变有效长度的柔性梁在柔顺机构中兼具传输和驱动功能，已被用于许多设备，例如热致动器和连续机器人。当用于在有限空间内操作时，这种双功能特征是有利的。然而，长度变化带来了建模困难，这给设计者带来了新的挑战。准确模拟可变有效长度的柔性梁并表征相关柔顺机构的行为构成了本研究的主要目标。重新审视链式梁约束模型并将其扩展到对可变有效长度的梁进行建模。提供了人字形热平面内微致动器的建模和连续介质机制，以证明所提出方法的有效性。