Early onset of snapping of slender beams under transverse forcing
Abstract
The hysteretic snapping under lateral forcing of a compressed, buckled beam is fundamental for many devices and mechanical metamaterials. For a single-tip lateral pusher, an important limitation is that snapping requires the pusher to cross the centerline of the beam. Here, we show that dual-tip pushers allow accelerated snapping, where the beam snaps before the pusher reaches the centerline. As a consequence, we show that when a buckled beam under increased compression comes in contact with a dual-tip pusher, it can snap to the opposite direction -this is impossible with a single-tip pusher. Additionally, we reveal a novel two-step snapping regime, in which the beam sequentially loses contact with the two tips of the dual-tip pusher. To characterize this class of snapping instabilities, we employ a systematic modal expansion of the beam shape. This expansion allows us to capture and analyze the transition from one-step to two-step snapping geometrically. Finally we demonstrate how to maximize the distance between the pusher and the beam's centerline at the moment of snapping. Together, our work opens up a new avenue for quantitatively and qualitatively controlling and modifying the snapping of buckled beams, with potential applications in mechanical sensors, actuators, and metamaterials.
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BibTeX
@article{meulblok2026early,
title = {{Early onset of snapping of slender beams under transverse forcing}},
author = {Colin Meulblok and Hadrien Bense and M. Caelen and Martin van Hecke},
journal = {Extreme Mechanics Letters},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1016/j.eml.2025.102407},
eprint = {2505.10091},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05760203v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-SA 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Early onset of snapping of slender beams under transverse forcing
AU - Colin Meulblok
AU - Hadrien Bense
AU - M. Caelen
AU - Martin van Hecke
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/23
JO - Extreme Mechanics Letters
DO - 10.1016/j.eml.2025.102407
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05760203v1
AB - The hysteretic snapping under lateral forcing of a compressed, buckled beam is fundamental for many devices and mechanical metamaterials. For a single-tip lateral pusher, an important limitation is that snapping requires the pusher to cross the centerline of the beam. Here, we show that dual-tip pushers allow accelerated snapping, where the beam snaps before the pusher reaches the centerline. As a consequence, we show that when a buckled beam under increased compression comes in contact with a dual-tip pusher, it can snap to the opposite direction -this is impossible with a single-tip pusher. Additionally, we reveal a novel two-step snapping regime, in which the beam sequentially loses contact with the two tips of the dual-tip pusher. To characterize this class of snapping instabilities, we employ a systematic modal expansion of the beam shape. This expansion allows us to capture and analyze the transition from one-step to two-step snapping geometrically. Finally we demonstrate how to maximize the distance between the pusher and the beam's centerline at the moment of snapping. Together, our work opens up a new avenue for quantitatively and qualitatively controlling and modifying the snapping of buckled beams, with potential applications in mechanical sensors, actuators, and metamaterials.
SN - 2352-4316
ER -