Manufacturability Analysis of Crumple-Formed Geometries through Reduced Order Models

Crumple-formed structures have irregular, multiscale geometric complexity. Similar to periodic lattices, crumpled geometries can be tailored to applications requiring a high strength-to-weight ratio. As an alternative to confinement-based crumple forming, additive manufacturing allows for increased geometric control and structural reproducibility to fabricate these structures. The inherently irregular geometries of crumple-formed structures decrease the sensitivity of macroscale properties to microscale manufacturing defects but pose a unique challenge for the analysis of manufacturability using additive processes. Current approaches to manufacturability analysis lack techniques suitable for addressing the multiscale geometric complexity and irregularity of crumpled structures. This paper presents a preliminary study into the manufacturability of crumple-formed structures using a model reduction technique that preserves the robust bulk statistical properties of crumpled structures. Manufacturability predicted by the reduced order model is assessed against an ideal geometry for additive processes.