Analysis of pantograph foldable structures

Abstract An efficient method is developed for the analysis of scissor-link foldable structures. The stiffness matrix of a unit of such a structure, called a duplet, is derived and incorporated into a standard stiffness method. A computer program is developed and many examples are studied. The results are compared to the analysis using uniplet elements of Ref. [1]. Substantial improvement is obtained through the introduction of duplets in place of the use of uniplets.