Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-15-2026
Department
Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering
Abstract
Origami-inspired structures are attracting considerable attention in engineering owing to their ability to facilitate intricate deformations and deployable configurations. However, accurately simulating their mechanical behaviour under realistic conditions involving permanent deformations and energy dissipation remains a significant challenge. In this study, we present an elasto-plastic formulation based on the nonlinear bar-and-hinge model for non-rigid origami simulation. We integrate rate-independent elasto-plastic constitutive models for both the hinges and the bars, enabling tunable representation of both elastic and plastic deformations in origami structures. The formulation employs a return mapping algorithm to ensure consistency with yield conditions checked at each incremental time step, enhancing numerical stability and accuracy. As a result, the proposed model provides realistic simulations by accurately reflecting the observed mechanical responses in real-world practice compared with purely elastic models. This formulation leads to MERLIN-PLAS, a new extension of the original MERLIN software, which minimizes the gap between idealized theoretical models and practical applications, providing a versatile and reliable simulation tool for functional origami-based systems.
Publication Title
Proceedings of the Royal Society A
Recommended Citation
Tang, Y.,
Chu, Y.,
Mei, Y.,
Zhu, Y.,
&
Liu, K.
(2026).
Bar-and-hinge model for elasto-plastic origami analysis.
Proceedings of the Royal Society A,
482(2342).
http://doi.org/10.1098/rspa.2025.1119
Retrieved from: https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/michigantech-p2/2880
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Version
Publisher's PDF
Publisher's Statement
© 2026 The Authors. Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited. Publisher’s version of record: https://doi.org/10.1098/rspa.2025.1119