TY - JOUR

T1 - Fluid-structure interaction modelling of a soft pneumatic actuator

AU - Maruthavanan, Duraikannan

AU - Seibel, Arthur

AU - Schlattmann, Josef

N1 - Funding Information: Acknowledgments: This publication was supported by the funding programme “Open Access Publishing” of Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH). Publisher Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

PY - 2021/7/15

Y1 - 2021/7/15

N2 - This paper presents a fully coupled fluid-structure interaction (FSI) simulation model of a soft pneumatic actuator (SPA). Previous research on modelling and simulation of SPAs mostly involves finite element modelling (FEM), in which the fluid pressure is considered as pressure load uniformly acting on the internal walls of the actuator. However, FEM modelling does not capture the physics of the fluid flow inside an SPA. An accurate modelling of the physical behaviour of an SPA requires a two-way FSI analysis that captures and transfers information from fluid to solid and vice versa. Furthermore, the investigation of the fluid flow inside the flow channels and chambers of the actuator are vital for an understanding of the fluid energy distribution and the prediction of the actuator performance. The FSI modelling is implemented on a typical SPA and the flow behaviour inside the actuator is presented. Moreover, the bending behaviour of the SPA from the FSI simulation results is compared with a corresponding FEM simulation.

AB - This paper presents a fully coupled fluid-structure interaction (FSI) simulation model of a soft pneumatic actuator (SPA). Previous research on modelling and simulation of SPAs mostly involves finite element modelling (FEM), in which the fluid pressure is considered as pressure load uniformly acting on the internal walls of the actuator. However, FEM modelling does not capture the physics of the fluid flow inside an SPA. An accurate modelling of the physical behaviour of an SPA requires a two-way FSI analysis that captures and transfers information from fluid to solid and vice versa. Furthermore, the investigation of the fluid flow inside the flow channels and chambers of the actuator are vital for an understanding of the fluid energy distribution and the prediction of the actuator performance. The FSI modelling is implemented on a typical SPA and the flow behaviour inside the actuator is presented. Moreover, the bending behaviour of the SPA from the FSI simulation results is compared with a corresponding FEM simulation.

KW - Fluid-structure interaction (FSI)

KW - Hyperelastic material

KW - Pneumatic networks (PneuNets)

KW - Soft pneumatic actuator (SPA)

KW - Engineering

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85111341057&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3390/act10070163

DO - 10.3390/act10070163

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85111341057

VL - 10

JO - Actuators

JF - Actuators

SN - 2076-0825

IS - 7

M1 - 163

ER -