Bistable curved beam structures have been widely used in energy harvesting devices,
switches and metamaterials. Traditional bistable curved beams possess constant
thickness along their longitudinal directions. To achieve better performance, the
optimization of beams with varying thickness is highly demanded. However, due to
the complexity of the problem, less attention has been paid to this topic. In this
paper, particle swarm optimization algorithm has been used to optimize the curve
beams under fixed-fixed and pinned-pinned boundary conditions. The beam is
optimized to improve the structure behavior such as maximum stiffness, maximum
forward snapping force, maximum backward snapping force. This has been done
using a combination of finite element simulation and particle swarm algorithm.
Finally, 3D printed optimized beams based on results of optimization are tested and
validated by an experimental study. The experimental data is in good agreement with
numerical simulation and optimization results. The proposed approach has
advantages in low computer energy consuming, high prediction accuracy, high
robustness, and is easy to be modified in different scenarios. This method
can be used in future design and optimization of multistable structure with
multiple objectives, and thus meets the needs of rapidly changing engineering
community.
Keywords
bistable beam, particle swarm optimization, geometrical
nonlinearity deformation, compression test