Abstract
A broad diversity of biological organisms and systems interact with soil in ways that facilitate their growth and survival. These interactions are made possible by strategies that enable organisms to accomplish functions that can be analogous to those required in geotechnical engineering systems. Examples include anchorage in soft and weak ground, penetration into hard and stiff subsurface materials and movement in loose sand. Since the biological strategies have been ‘vetted’ by the process of natural selection, and the functions they accomplish are governed by the same physical laws in both the natural and engineered environments, they represent a unique source of principles and design ideas for addressing geotechnical challenges. Prior to implementation as engineering solutions, however, the differences in spatial and temporal scales and material properties between the biological environment and engineered system must be addressed. Current bio-inspired geotechnics research is addressing topics such as soil excavation and penetration, soil–structure interface shearing, load transfer between foundation and anchorage elements and soils, and mass and thermal transport, having gained inspiration from organisms such as worms, clams, ants, termites, fish, snakes and plant roots. This work highlights the potential benefits to both geotechnical engineering through new or improved solutions and biology through understanding of mechanisms as a result of cross-disciplinary interactions and collaborations.
Highlights
Advances in engineering that allow humans to harvest renewable wind and thermal energy, facilitate exploration of remote areas and increase the sustainability of construction materials and processes, along with emerging issues such as growing population densities in urban centres and climate change, continually challenge geotechnical engineers to develop more efficient, sustainable and multifunctional solutions
The biological strategies that living organisms have evolved to accomplish certain functions represent a rich source of principles and design ideas for translation to human-made systems (Dudley & Gans, 1991; Vogel, 1998; Autumn et al, 2002; Irschick & Higham, 2016)
A broad diversity of organisms, including many plants, mammals, reptiles, birds, fish, insects, molluscs, microbes and fungi, interact with soil in various ways that facilitate their growth, survival and reproduction. These interactions include penetration of hard and stiff materials, anchorage in soft soils, movement in loose granular materials and control of mass and thermal transport in granular materials. Since these tasks are governed by the same physical laws in both the natural and engineered environments, bio-inspiration can stimulate the generation of innovative alternative solutions to address geotechnical challenges
Summary
Advances in engineering that allow humans to harvest renewable wind and thermal energy, facilitate exploration of remote areas and increase the sustainability of construction materials and processes, along with emerging issues such as growing population densities in urban centres and climate change, continually challenge geotechnical engineers to develop more efficient, sustainable and multifunctional solutions. These interactions include penetration of hard and stiff materials, anchorage in soft soils, movement in loose granular materials and control of mass and thermal transport in granular materials Since these tasks are governed by the same physical laws in both the natural and engineered environments, bio-inspiration can stimulate the generation of innovative alternative solutions to address geotechnical challenges. Tree root systems can be tens to hundreds of times more efficient in transferring load per unit volume or mass material used than conventional shallow and deep foundations (Burrall et al, 2020) These and other similar examples illustrate the advancements that bio-inspired design can bring to geotechnical engineering. These surfaces are inspired by the belly scales of snakes and could benefit applications such as foundations for wind turbines.
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