Twist buckling and the foldable cylinder: an exercise in origami

Basic mechanisms for the buckling of a thin cylindrical shell under torsional loading are reviewed from a post-buckling perspective. Deflections are considered so far into the large-deflection range that the shell is allowed to fold to a flat two-dimensional form, in a mechanism reminiscent of a deployable structure. Critical and initial post-buckling effects are explored through concepts of energy minimization and hidden symmetries. For comparisons with the final large-deflection folded shape, a truss element program is employed. It is shown that, as buckling develops, the mode shape must change to accommodate both the symmetry-breaking aspects of the predominately inwards deflection, and the rotation of peak and valley lines of the buckle pattern necessary to accommodate the geometry of the final folded shape.