Buckling failure has been a major obstacle in designing compliant joints in high compression applications. This paper describes two principles, isolation and inversion, that can be successfully applied to many compliant joints to increase their ability to withstand high compressive loads by avoiding buckling-prone loading conditions. Isolation and inversion give rise to a new breed of compliant joints called high compression compliant mechanisms (HCCM). HCCMs have many of the inherent advantages of compliant mechanisms with the additional qualities of high load-bearing joints. This added robustness in compression can be achieved without adversely affecting the kinematic behavior of the joint.

Issue Section:
Technical Papers
Keywords:
compressive strength, buckling, mechanical stability, structural engineering, design engineering
Topics:
Compliant mechanisms, Compression, Design, Stress, Buckling, Deflection
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Copyright © 2005
 by American Society of Mechanical Engineers
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