Design and Folded Fabrication of Novel Self-braced Triangular Structural Sections and Frames

Origami-inspired foldable structures have seen much recent interest for applications in which transportability or rapid construction are primary design drivers, for example emergency shelters and temporary staging structures. This paper proposes a new type of a structural module that can be manually folded from flat steel sheet into a novel self-braced triangular structural section. Simple geometric relations are presented for the unit module, which can then be tessellated for the design of larger elements and frame assemblies. It thus avoids many of the geometric complexities typically encountered in origami-inspired folded structure designs. A set of integral connection details are then developed for computer-numerically controlled (CNC) manufacture of a foldable proof-of-concept prototype to validate geometric and folded fabrication processes. Finally, preliminary numerical analyses are conducted comparing typical hollow and folded self-braced triangular sections.