FINITE ELEMENT SIMULATIONS ON MECHANICAL SELF-ASSEMBLY OF BIOMIMETIC HELICAL STRUCTURES

Helices are ubiquitous building blocks in natural systems, and have since become major sources of inspiration for engineering design of helical devices with a range of applications in sensors, transducers, transistors and micro-robotics devices. In this work, we illustrate the mechanical self-assembly principle in spontaneous helical structures, and perform finite element simulations to model such large deformation of thin structures in three dimensions. Our work can facilitate designs of tunable helical structures at both macroscopic and microscopic scales with desirable geometric parameters for engineering applications such as in nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS), drug delivery, sensors, acturators, optoelectronics and microbotics.