Effect of prestress on bi-stable behaviors of isotropic cylindrical shell structures

A mechanical model for isotropic cylindrical shell is built to illustrate the effect of prestress on bi-stable behaviors of such structures. The conditions for bi-stability of isotropic cylindrical shell are derived based on the principle of minimum strain energy. Meanwhile,using the shell element in ABAQUS,the numerical simulation on bi-stable process is carried out by imposing edge bending moment on the shell. The results show that the numerical results of rolled-up radius is in agreement with the predicted results. Furthermore,a deformed isotropic cylindrical shell without or with prestress has two equilibrium positions where there is no twisting deformation. For the cylindrical shell without prestress,the first equilibrium position is stable while the second one is unstable. However,a prestressed shell has its bi-stable states if the prestress satisfies some confined conditions,and it has two opposite curvatures corresponding to the two stable states. So it is different from the case for composite laminated shell with anti-symmetrical lay-up.