Computational Mechanics of Biological Locomotion
status: ongoing
Materials and designs produced by additive manufacturing share similarities with the biological ones in the respect that they are grown by layers, which allows for a great variety of shapes and multi-component structures. Taking this standpoint, we explore the function of such materials and designs in living organisms, with a focus on mechanisms that enable locomotion in air and in water.
Computational mechanics helps to understand how extremely small insects have preserved good aerial performance during miniaturization.
1) G. Li, D. Kolomenskiy, H. Liu, R. Godoy-Diana, B. Thiria. Intermittent versus continuous swimming: An optimization tale. Physical Review Fluids 8(1):013101, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevFluids.8.013101
2) S. E. Farisenkov, D. Kolomenskiy, P. N. Petrov, T. Engels, N. A. Lapina, F.-O. Lehmann, R. Onishi, H. Liu, A. A. Polilov. Novel flight style and light wings boost flight performance of tiny beetles. Nature 602:96-100, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-04303-7
2) S. E. Farisenkov, D. Kolomenskiy, P. N. Petrov, T. Engels, N. A. Lapina, F.-O. Lehmann, R. Onishi, H. Liu, A. A. Polilov. Novel flight style and light wings boost flight performance of tiny beetles. Nature 602:96-100, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-04303-7
Results
This video shows an adaptive grid used in the computational fluid dynamics simulation of a flying beetle with bristled wings.