PAMM · Proc. Appl. Math. Mech. 15, 193 – 194 (2015) / DOI 10.1002/pamm.

201510087

Flexure Hinge Mechanisms Modeled by Nonlinear

Euler-Bernoulli-Beams
Robert Friedrich1,∗ and Rolf Lammering1
1
Helmut-Schmidt-University / University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg, Institute of Mechanics,
Holstenhofweg 85, 22043 Hamburg

A flexure hinge is an innovative engineering solution for providing relative motion between two adjacent stiff members
by the elastic deformation of an arbitrary shaped flexible connector. In the literature, modeling of compliant mechanisms
incorporating flexure hinges is mainly focused on linear methods. However, geometrically nonlinear effects cannot be ignored
generally. This study presents a nonlinear modeling technique for flexure hinges based on the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory, in
contrast to the predominant linear modeling approaches. Higher order beam elements of variable cross-section are employed
to model the flexure hinge region. A Newton-Raphson scheme is applied to solve the resulting nonlinear system equations.
The proposed approach reduces the overall degrees of freedom and is computationally efficient compared to commonly
applied 3D finite element methods. A compliant displacement amplification mechanism is studied by means of the proposed
method, where an excellent agreement with results of a reference solution is achieved. The modeling approach is suitable for
the structural optimization of compliant mechanisms towards a less intuitive design process.
c 2015 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

1 Introduction

Because of their very precise, smooth motion compliant mechanisms (CM) based on flexure hinges (FH) find application for
example in metrology instruments and positioning systems for industry, where backlash, friction and wear are undesirable.
The virtually limitless potential for miniaturization of CM established their broad use in microelectromechanical systems
(MEMS). Despite the multitude of industry applications, the design process of CM remains challenging. Commonly the
design process consists of two steps. First a topological synthesis is applied to obtain the positions of the flexure hinges with
respect to the desired output trajectory of the mechanism. Second, a dimensioning has to be performed to find the geometric
hinge parameters so that stress constraints are satisfied. While in the first design step, nonlinear modeling methods are state
of the art [1], efficient nonlinear methods in the second design step are yet to be developed. In this work such a nonlinear
approach is proposed and validated using the example of a compliant displacement amplification mechanism (CDAM).

2 Nonlinear Euler-Bernoulli beam theory

Performing the equilibrium of forces and moments for the infinitisimal beam segment of length dx and omitting higher order
terms, the governing equations are derived (for details see [2] and [3])
"  2 !#
d du0 1 dw0
− EA (x) + = n,
dx dx 2 dx
" 2 ! # (1)
d2 d2 w0
  
d du0 1 dw0 dw0
− 2 −EI (x) − EA (x) + = q,
dx dx2 dx dx 2 dx dx

where u0 is the axial deformation and w0 the transverse deflection of the beam segment. EA (x) and EI (x) are its extensional
and bending stiffness, respectively, which are in general not constant. A finite element procedure based on higher order 3-node
beam elements is developed. The geometrically nonlinear element stiffness and tangential element stiffness matrices are given
by
   11 
K11 K12 T T12
Ke = and Te = (2)
K21 K22 T21 T22

∗ Corresponding author: e-mail robert.friedrich@hsu-hh.de, phone +49 40 6541 2745, fax +49 40 6541 2034

c 2015 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

194 Section 4: Structural mechanics

with the submatrices

Z
K = EA (x) Bu T Bu dx = T11
11
(3)
l
1 dw0 u T w
Z
K12 = EA (x) B B1 dx, (4)
2 dx
l
21 T
T
K = 2 K12 = T21 = T12 and (5)
 2
1 dw0
Z Z
wT w T w
22
K = EI (x) B2 B2 dx + EA (x) Bw
1 B1 dx (6)
2 dx
l l
 
du dw0 dw0
Z
0 T w
22 22
T = K + EA (x) + Bw1 B1 dx (7)
dx dx dx
l

is derived where the matrices Bu and Bw1/2 contain the first and second derivatives of the shape functions, respectively. After
assembly of the respective system matrices the linearized system of equations

T ur−1 ∆u = F − K ur−1 ur−1 ,

(8)

has to be solved iteratively for ∆u to compute the new deformation state from ur = ur−1 + ∆u.

3 Results and conclusion

The CDAM under consideration is shown in Fig. 1. Due to double symmetry only one quarter has to be modeled. Its geometry
is described by l1 = 15 mm, l2 = 5 mm, l3 = 40 mm, l4 = 10 mm, H = 10 mm and α = 2◦ . The circular flexure hinges
have a radius r = 4 mm and a minimum thickness t = 0.25 mm. Aluminum material properties are assumed. The mechanism
is actuated by an input Force Fin . The ratio of output displacement uout to uin defines the geometric advantage GA. The
proposed approach is implemented in M ATLAB where the CDAM is modeled with 14 beam elements with a total of 87
degrees of freedom (DoF). For validation of the proposed approach the CDAM is also modeled in A NSYS. This 3D reference
model has around 250.000 DoF. A selected result is shown in Fig. 2 from which two major contributions of this work are
deduced. First, the GA computed by the proposed approach and the reference are in very good agreement, which validates the
beam model. Second, the CDAM shows a pronounced nonlinear behavior which can not be captured by conventional linear
modeling approaches. Further results show that also the computation of stress is heavily influenced when nonlinear behavior
is taken into account [3].

50
40
GA in [−]

30
linear reference
20 proposed approach
nonlinear reference
10
25 50 75 100 125 150
Fin in [N]
bv
Fig. 1: Model of the compliant displacement amplification
Fig. 2: Geometric advantage as function of the input force Fin
mechanism

Acknowledgements The financial support of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) is gratefully acknowledged.

References
[1] F. Dirksen, T. Berg, R. Lammering and T. I. Zhodi, PAMM 12(1), pp 801–804, (2012).
[2] J. N. Reddy, An introduction to nonlinear finite element analysis (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2004).
[3] R. Friedrich, R. Lammering and M. Rösner, Precis. Eng., in press (2015).

c 2015 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

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