Bioinspired, mechanical, deterministic fractal model for hierarchical suture joints
Name
Li-2012-Bioinspired, mechanical, deterministic fractal.pdf
Size
1.87 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
f686a0a7ce8f4e8cc8c7be29dea03fe7
Author(s)
Boyce, Mary Cunningham
Li, Yaning
Ortiz, Christine
Date Issued
March 2012
Journal
Physical Review E
Publisher
American Physical Society
Citation
Li, Yaning, Christine Ortiz, and Mary C. Boyce. “Bioinspired, Mechanical, Deterministic Fractal Model for Hierarchical Suture Joints.” Physical Review E 85.3 (2012). ©2012 American Physical Society
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Many biological systems possess hierarchical and fractal-like interfaces and joint structures that bear and transmit loads, absorb energy, and accommodate growth, respiration, and/or locomotion. In this paper, an elastic deterministic fractal composite mechanical model was formulated to quantitatively investigate the role of structural hierarchy on the stiffness, strength, and failure of suture joints. From this model, it was revealed that the number of hierarchies (N) can be used to tailor and to amplify mechanical properties nonlinearly and with high sensitivity over a wide range of values (orders of magnitude) for a given volume and weight. Additionally, increasing hierarchy was found to result in mechanical interlocking of higher-order teeth, which creates additional load resistance capability, thereby preventing catastrophic failure in major teeth and providing flaw tolerance. Hence, this paper shows that the diversity of hierarchical and fractal-like interfaces and joints found in nature have definitive functional consequences and is an effective geometric-structural strategy to achieve different properties with limited material options in nature when other structural geometries and parameters are biologically challenging or inaccessible. This paper also indicates the use of hierarchy as a design strategy to increase design space and provides predictive capabilities to guide the mechanical design of synthetic flaw-tolerant bioinspired interfaces and joints.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
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Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.85.031901
