Weakening-induced Snap Instability as a Novel Reusable Force Protection Mechanism

•This manuscript investigates a novel structure for a reusable force protection mechanism equipped with weakening-induced snap instability.•The novelty of the proposed structure lies in its geometric simplicity, and elastic snap instabilities induce the switching between the fixed and the pinned supports. During the snap instability, external energy is converted in the form of dynamic motion.•The Elastica-based analytic solution revealing the underlying bifurcation mechanism. Furthermore, the proof-of-concept of the proposed structure is demonstrated by providing desktop-scaled experiments and the corresponding FE simulations.•The proposed energy dissipation mechanism is size-independent and fully reusable, so our study opens the possibility for practical application over a wide range of length scales.