Systematic method of applying structural characteristics of natural organisms to mechanical structures

Abstract

Structural bionic design lacks mature and scientific theories, and the excellent structural characteristics of natural organisms sometimes cannot be transferred into engineering structures effectively. Aiming at overcoming the existing problems, this paper summarizes three related theories: similarity theory, fuzzy evaluation theory and optimization theory. Based on the related theories, a method of structural bionic design is introduced, which includes four steps: selecting the most useful structural characteristic of natural organism; analyzing the structural characteristic finally chosen for engineering problem; completing the structural bionic design for engineering structure; and verifying the structural bionic design. Similarity theory and fuzzy evaluation theory are employed to achieve Step 1. In Step 2 and Step 3, optimization theory is employed to analyze the parameters of structures. Together with the thoughts of simplification and grouping, optimization theory can reveal the relationship between organism structure and engineering structure, providing a way to structural bionic design. A general evaluation criterion is proposed in Step 4, which is feasible to evaluate the performance of different structures. Finally, based on the method, a structural bionic design of thin-walled cylindrical shell is introduced.