Stiff deployable structures via coupling of thick Miura-ori tubes along creases

Origami-based structures are crucial to attaining deployable mechanisms and unique mechanical properties via programmable deformation by folding. Among origami-based structures, tessellation by the coupling of origami tubes enhances the geometrical variations and mechanical properties. However, existing thickness accommodation for coupling of origami tubes is generally limited to manifold, that is, a polyhedral surface in which each edge is shared by at most two faces. By contrast, this study proposed origami-based structures composed of multiple thick Miura-ori tubes that are not limited to the manifold, possibly having edges shared by more than two faces, resulting in rigid-foldable thick origami cellular structures. Furthermore, the coupling method contributes to the high stiffness of the coupled Miura-ori tubes, as evidenced by the wide gap in the eigenvalues between the one-DOF mode and the elastic modes obtained by the bar-and-hinge models. Finally, meter-scale coupled Miura-ori tubes were fabricated to demonstrate one-DOF motion and high stiffness. The findings of this study enable the rapid construction of structures by one-DOF motion and the enhancement of transportability via flat-foldability. • Thickness accommodation problem was solved for coupled Miura-ori tubes. • We found thick origami cellular structures with rigid foldable motions. • Stiffness of Miura-ori tubes increased by two orders of magnitude. • Meter-scale coupled tubes were fabricated using thick panels.