Conceptual Configuration Analysis of Tetrahedral-Octahedral Heterogeneous Unit and Topological Design of Shape Morphing Mechanism

Abstract The truss static structure system has excellent large load and lightweight characteristics. It is easy to embed actuators by substituting specific members in the structure and has the potential for multi-dimensional space deformation. Inspired by uniform tessellation structures, this paper proposes a novel shape morphing mechanism (SMM) based on the combined design of tetrahedral-octahedral heterogeneous units (TOHUs). The relationship between the motion properties and driving configuration of the tetrahedral-octahedral units is analyzed to determine their conceptual configuration based on graph theory. Then, the weighted graph, adjacency matrix, and connection rules are evaluated to synthesize the conceptual structure for the truss mechanism. The results show that this configuration can allow multi-dimensional continuous deformations, including span, bend, sweep, and twist. A prototype is built to verify its deformability. Finally, the stiffness performance is analyzed based on Matrix displacement method. This research provides a comprehensive design method for constructing SMM, expands the range of combinable units and connection methods, and offers theoretical guidance for the innovative design of multi-dimensional deformation SMM in aerospace.