Kinematic Analysis of Congruent Multilayer Tessellations

Rigidly foldable origami tessellations exhibit interesting kinematic properties. Several tessellation types (most prominently Miura-ori) have shown potential for technical application in aerospace and general lightweight construction. In addition to static (e.g. as core structures for sandwich components) and single-layer kinematic (e.g. deployable) applications, new possibilities arise from the combination of several layers of tessellations with congruent kinematics. This paper presents an analytical description of the kinematics of multi-layered, or stacked, globally plane tessellations which retain rigid foldability by congruent, compatible movement.Copyright © 2015 by ASME