Origami-based tunable mechanical memory metamaterial for vibration attenuation

Tunable metamaterials without the necessity to redesign parameters and remanufacture have received increasing interest in recent years due to their rich dynamic characteristics and wide potential applications in vibration and sound control. In this work, we propose and analyze a mechanical memory metamaterial with tunability based on the Kresling origami that can easily be reconfigured for vibration attenuation in a desired frequency range. Unlike previous Kresling origami metamaterials in which rotational motion is transferred along the origami chain, rotations are localized in the proposed tunable metamaterial, which avoids introducing rotations between the ends of the metamaterial. The static and dynamic characteristics of the metamaterial are theoretically analyzed based on the truss model of the origami. By utilizing the bi-stability of the Kresling origami module (KOM) with asymmetric stiffness, the metamaterial can achieve rich dynamic behaviour with various memories. Each memory represents a pattern of periodic repeating cells in the metamaterial by switching the stable states of KOMs. The transmissibility and bandgaps of the metamaterial are determined analytically and verified by numerical simulations. The results demonstrate the tunability of the proposed metamaterial by switching its memories. Besides, the parametric study shows that the bandgap frequency ranges of the metamaterial can be expanded by adjusting the mass moment of inertia of the KOMs’ middle planes, making the antiresonance frequency of the system close to one of its natural frequencies and/or introducing damping. Finally, the proposed Kresling origami metamaterial is implemented and tested, and the tunability of vibration attenuation by memory switching of the proposed origami metamaterial is demonstrated. The proposed origami-based mechanical memory metamaterial will promote the development of dynamics and vibration control technology and advanced mechanical metamaterials.