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Disordered origami sandwich structures: inverse design and on-demand energy absorption
Fenglei Li1, Jiakang Gan1, Zhou Yang1
1School of Aeronautics, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, 710072, China. bingli@nwpu.edu.cn.
Materials Horizons
|February 25, 2026
Summary
Introducing geometric disorder into Miura Origami (Miura-Ori) metamaterials significantly enhances their mechanical properties and energy absorption. This breakthrough enables data-driven design of advanced, customizable disordered metamaterials for applications like crash protection.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Mechanical Engineering
- Metamaterials Design
Background:
- Conventional Miura Origami (Miura-Ori) metamaterials possess limitations in energy absorption due to rigid periodicity and structural uniformity.
- Existing designs struggle to achieve optimal mechanical robustness and energy dissipation.
- Geometric disorder has traditionally been viewed as a limitation in structural design.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of engineered geometric disorder on the mechanical performance of Miura-Ori-based sandwich structures.
- To develop a computational inverse design algorithm for generating customized disordered metamaterials.
- To demonstrate the application of disordered metamaterials in enhancing crashworthiness.
Main Methods:
- Strategic engineering of geometric disorder into Miura-Ori sandwich structures.
- Development and application of a computational inverse design algorithm for autonomous configuration generation.
- Rigorous simulations and experimental validations to corroborate design performance.
Main Results:
- Disordered structures showed significant improvements: 194.98% increase in elastic modulus, 105.22% in specific energy absorption, and 118.03% in mean compressive force compared to uniform counterparts.
- The inverse design algorithm successfully generated configurations matching target force-displacement profiles.
- A Miura-Ori-inspired fuselage tube with geometric disorder effectively suppressed peak impact forces during simulated crash events.
Conclusions:
- Engineered geometric disorder transforms from a structural limitation into a functional asset for enhancing metamaterial performance.
- The data-driven inverse design approach enables the creation of highly customizable, high-performance disordered metamaterials.
- This study establishes a foundational paradigm for next-generation energy-absorbing metamaterials with tailored mechanical responses.
