Certain types of patterned metamaterials—gridshells and honeycombs—are capable of bistable behavior through a tailored combination of local and global geometric parameters. This is an alternative to prestressed or composite materials, which are typically used to induce multistability in thin structures. Globally bistable structures, contrary to arrays of bistable elements, allow large deformations in a single step. Furthermore, this category of structures offers greater manufacturability and scalability compared to laminate, prestressed, or multimaterial shells, since only geometry has to be considered. The simplicity of the material and geometrical requirements afford the designer easy and direct embedding in larger functional structures. In this study, the local and global response of bistable gridshells is interrogated through a manageable strain energy model, as well as through numerical and experimental methods. In addition, construction of bistable gridshells by employing various additive methods is examined and prototypes are presented for a series of functional devices. Finally, the availability of printed parts much larger than the build plate using commercial 3D printers is demonstrated, effectively “expanding” the dimensions of the build plate.

某些类型的图案化超材料-贝壳和蜂窝-通过局部和全局几何参数的量身定制的组合具有双稳态行为。这是通常用于在薄结构中引起多重稳定性的预应力或复合材料的替代方法。与双稳态元素阵列相反，全局双稳态结构允许在单个步骤中进行大变形。此外，与层压板，预应力或多材料壳体相比，此类结构可提供更大的可制造性和可扩展性，因为仅需考虑几何形状。材料和几何形状要求的简单性使设计人员可以轻松，直接地嵌入更大的功能结构中。在这个研究中，通过可控的应变能模型，以及通过数值和实验方法，对双稳态格栅壳的局部和全局响应进行了询问。此外，研究了通过采用各种加法方法构造的双稳态格栅壳，并提出了一系列功能器件的原型。最后，展示了使用商用3D打印机比印制板大得多的印刷零件的可用性，有效地“扩展”了印制板的尺寸。