Can a Hencky-Type Model Predict the Mechanical Behaviour of Pantographic Lattices?

Current research in metamaterials design is pushing to fill the gap between mathematical modeling and technological applications. To meet these requirements, predictive and computationally effective numerical tools need to be conceived and applied. In this paper we compare the performances of a discrete model already presented in [1], strongly influenced by Hencky approach [2], versus some interesting experiments on pantographic structures built using the 3D printing technology. The interest in these structures resides in the exotic behavior that they have already shown, see [3, 4], and their study seems promising. In this work, after a brief presentation of the discrete model, we discuss the results of three experiments and compare them with the corresponding predictions obtained by the numerical simulations. An in-depth discussion of the numerical results reveals the robustness of the numerical model but also clearly indicates which are the focal points that strongly influence the accuracy of the numerical simulation.