Geometry and Mechanics of Multistable Origami Blocks

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Lee, Munkyun
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866908895835848704
author Lee, Munkyun
author_facet Lee, Munkyun
contents Origami, which transforms flat sheets into three-dimensional shapes through folding patterns, has inspired the emergence of deployable systems in architecture and civil realms. Most existing origami-inspired deployable systems are based on rigid or curved-crease origami types. However, they inherently lack shape stability and require additional supports to maintain their deployed shapes. These lead to a fundamental trade-off between deployability and shape stability, which remains a major challenge for large-scale origami systems. Multistable origami, in contrast, achieves energy stability across multiple configurations during deployment. This unique characteristic enables it to maintain stable shapes even under external loads. These properties allow multistable origami to achieve both shape stability and deployability, offering high potential for self-supporting deployable systems in architectural applications. However, realizing both large-scale and structurally stable systems using a single origami faces many practical constraints. To overcome these limitations, origami block assembly has emerged as an effective approach to form global systems. This approach enables flexibility in global geometry and mechanical behaviors while offering reconfigurability. These indicate that the complementary potential of multistable origami and block assemblies can provide a promising solution. This study aims to address the challenges of applying deployable origami to large-scale architectural systems by leveraging the potential of multistable origami as modular building blocks. From a geometric standpoint, we explore design methods for stable configurations of multistable origami blocks that can align and interlock with each other. From a mechanical standpoint, we explore stiffness-controllable design methods that ensure self-supporting and load-bearing capabilities through geometric parameters.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_16913
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Geometry and Mechanics of Multistable Origami Blocks
Lee, Munkyun
Soft Condensed Matter
Applied Physics
Origami, which transforms flat sheets into three-dimensional shapes through folding patterns, has inspired the emergence of deployable systems in architecture and civil realms. Most existing origami-inspired deployable systems are based on rigid or curved-crease origami types. However, they inherently lack shape stability and require additional supports to maintain their deployed shapes. These lead to a fundamental trade-off between deployability and shape stability, which remains a major challenge for large-scale origami systems. Multistable origami, in contrast, achieves energy stability across multiple configurations during deployment. This unique characteristic enables it to maintain stable shapes even under external loads. These properties allow multistable origami to achieve both shape stability and deployability, offering high potential for self-supporting deployable systems in architectural applications. However, realizing both large-scale and structurally stable systems using a single origami faces many practical constraints. To overcome these limitations, origami block assembly has emerged as an effective approach to form global systems. This approach enables flexibility in global geometry and mechanical behaviors while offering reconfigurability. These indicate that the complementary potential of multistable origami and block assemblies can provide a promising solution. This study aims to address the challenges of applying deployable origami to large-scale architectural systems by leveraging the potential of multistable origami as modular building blocks. From a geometric standpoint, we explore design methods for stable configurations of multistable origami blocks that can align and interlock with each other. From a mechanical standpoint, we explore stiffness-controllable design methods that ensure self-supporting and load-bearing capabilities through geometric parameters.
title Geometry and Mechanics of Multistable Origami Blocks
topic Soft Condensed Matter
Applied Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.16913