Swelling-induced and controlled curving in layered gel beams.
We describe swelling-driven curving in originally straight and non-homogeneous beams. We present and verify a structural model of swollen beams, based on a new point of view adopted to describe swelling-induced deformation processes in bilayered gel beams, that is based on the split of the swelling-induced deformation of the beam at equilibrium into two components, both depending on the elastic properties of the gel. The method allows us to: (i) determine beam stretching and curving, once assigned the characteristics of the solvent bath and of the non-homogeneous beam, and (ii) estimate the characteristics of non-homogeneous flat gel beams in such a way as to obtain, under free-swelling conditions, three-dimensional shapes. The study was pursued by means of analytical, semi-analytical and numerical tools; excellent agreement of the outcomes of the different techniques was found, thus confirming the strength of the method.
SISSA , International School for Advanced Studies , via Bonomea 265, Trieste 34136, Italy.
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Lucantonio
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Strutturale e Geotecnica , Sapienza Università di Roma , via Eudossiana 18, Roma 00184, Italy.
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Nardinocchi
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Strutturale e Geotecnica , Sapienza Università di Roma , via Eudossiana 18, Roma 00184, Italy.
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Pezzulla
morphing beams; shape control; swelling-induced bending