Author(s)

K. Kawaguchi, K. Nabana & Y. Hangai

Abstract

A numerical procedure to find one of the quickest processes to fold general flexible frame structures to the objective configurations have been proposed by the authors. In this paper, the basic idea of the proposed folding analy- sis procedure is briefly explained and some numerical examples, including the treatment at the bifurcation points, are explained. Several illustrative examples and results of simple experiments are illustrated. 1 Introduction Various and numerous structural systems or mechanisms which can be rapidly assembled or compactly folded have been proposed and analyzed by many engineers or researchers and still new solutions are being proposed [1-8]. However, there are very few studies which discuss about the folding of general frame structures. Most of the frame structures are, of course, kinematically determi- nate, i.

Keywords