On the out-of-plane compression of a Miura-ori patterned sheet

Miura-ori patterned sheets have been recognized as efficient energy absorption devices that can serve as the core of sandwich structures or a layer of metamaterials. In this paper, first, the geometric characteristics of a Miura-ori patterned sheet were examined. Second, a Miura-ori patterned sheet was fabricated using 0.3-mm thick aluminum sheets by three-step compression, and the patterned sheet was used as the core by bonding it between two aluminum skins to make a sandwich panel. The quasi-static out-of-plane compression behavior of both the Miura-ori patterned sheets and their corresponding sandwich panels was investigated experimentally and numerically by using finite element analysis (FEA). The simulation results show a reasonable agreement with the experimental results. A parametric analysis of the Miura-ori patterned sheets was carried out using FEA to demonstrate the effect of cell wall thickness, side length, dihedral angle and sector angle. Empirical formulae were obtained for the peak crushing force and the mean force.