Topology optimization and fabrication of tessellated thick origami tubes

Deployable structures offer advantages such as compact storage, rapid assembly, and high transportability. Among them, rigid origami has gained attention for scalable applications ranging from solar sails in space to emergency shelters and medical stents. Beyond deployment, origami-based metamaterials have emerged as structures exhibiting unusual mechanical properties derived from folding patterns. Notably, tube-based assemblies using Miura-ori units have been explored to realize negative Poisson’s ratios and high-stiffness deployable systems, such as zipper-coupled tubes. While origami metamaterials are often modeled as zero-thickness constructs, practical implementation requires handling material thickness without compromising kinematic behavior. Traditional methods typically focus on manifold geometries, where edges connect at most two panels. In contrast, this study addresses non-manifold cellular structureswhere edges are shared by more than two panelsby proposing a thick-panel-compatible tessellated origami tube structure. We present a comprehensive process from design to fabrication: the design phase includes topology optimization of foldable structures by generating a ground structure from tessellated units while preserving connectivity through filtering. In the fabrication phase, we propose a method that segments and assembles panels and hinges cut from sheets, accommodating the geometric shifts introduced by thickness. This integrated framework demonstrates the feasibility of designing and realizing deployable structures using thick origami metamaterials.