Method to analyze programmable deformation of dielectric elastomer layers

A layer of a dielectric elastomer expands its area when a voltage is applied across its thickness. The layer can be programed to deform in three dimensions by using patterned prestretches, electrodes, and stiffeners. To aid the design of such programmable deformation, this paper describes a computational method, exploiting the fact that the prescribed voltage sets the nominal electric field. The method is demonstrated with examples including formation of wrinkles, movements of a handlike actuator, and nonlinear oscillation of a balloon.