Mechanical Design in Organisms


Book Description

This book deals with an interface between mechanical engineering and biology. It reviews biological structural materials and systems and their mechanically important features and demonstrates that function at any particular level of biological integration is permitted and controlled by structure at lower levels of integration.




Mechanical Design in Organisms


Book Description

This book deals with an interface between mechanical engineering and biology. Available for the first time in paperback, it reviews biological structural materials and systems and their mechanically important features and demonstrates that function at any particular level of biological integration is permitted and controlled by structure at lower levels of integration. Five chapters discuss the properties of materials in general and those of biomaterials in particular. The authors examine the design of skeletal elements and discuss animal and plant systems in terms of mechanical design. In a concluding chapter they investigate organisms in their environments and the insights gained from study of the mechanical aspects of their lives.




Design in Nature


Book Description

In this groundbreaking book, Adrian Bejan takes the recurring patterns in nature—trees, tributaries, air passages, neural networks, and lightning bolts—and reveals how a single principle of physics, the constructal law, accounts for the evolution of these and many other designs in our world. Everything—from biological life to inanimate systems—generates shape and structure and evolves in a sequence of ever-improving designs in order to facilitate flow. River basins, cardiovascular systems, and bolts of lightning are very efficient flow systems to move a current—of water, blood, or electricity. Likewise, the more complex architecture of animals evolve to cover greater distance per unit of useful energy, or increase their flow across the land. Such designs also appear in human organizations, like the hierarchical “flowcharts” or reporting structures in corporations and political bodies. All are governed by the same principle, known as the constructal law, and configure and reconfigure themselves over time to flow more efficiently. Written in an easy style that achieves clarity without sacrificing complexity, Design in Nature is a paradigm-shifting book that will fundamentally transform our understanding of the world around us.




Solid Biomechanics


Book Description

Offering a review of the biomechanical design of organisms, from bacteria onwards, this book shows how the bodies of animals & plants are masterpieces of engineering, enabling them to survive in a hostile world.




Mechanical Design of Structural Materials in Animals


Book Description

Mechanical Design of Structural Materials in Animals explores the principles underlying how molecules interact to produce the functional attributes of biological materials: their strength and stiffness, ability to absorb and store energy, and ability to resist the fatigue that accrues through a lifetime of physical insults. These attributes play a central role in determining the size and shape of animals, the ways in which they can move, and how they interact with their environment. By showing how structural materials have been designed by evolution, John Gosline sheds important light on how animals work. Gosline elucidates the pertinent theories for how molecules are arranged into macromolecular structures and how those structures are then built up into whole organisms. In particular, Gosline develops the theory of discontinuous, fiber-reinforced composites, which he employs in a grand synthesis to explain the properties of everything from the body wall of sea anemones to spiders' silks and insect cuticles, tendons, ligaments, and bones. Although the theories are examined in depth, Gosline's elegant discussion makes them accessible to anyone with an interest in the mechanics of life. Focusing on the materials from which animals are constructed, this book answers fundamental questions about mechanical properties in nature.




Mechanical Design of Structural Materials in Animals


Book Description

Mechanical Design of Structural Materials in Animals explores the principles underlying how molecules interact to produce the functional attributes of biological materials: their strength and stiffness, ability to absorb and store energy, and ability to resist the fatigue that accrues through a lifetime of physical insults. These attributes play a central role in determining the size and shape of animals, the ways in which they can move, and how they interact with their environment. By showing how structural materials have been designed by evolution, John Gosline sheds important light on how animals work. Gosline elucidates the pertinent theories for how molecules are arranged into macromolecular structures and how those structures are then built up into whole organisms. In particular, Gosline develops the theory of discontinuous, fiber-reinforced composites, which he employs in a grand synthesis to explain the properties of everything from the body wall of sea anemones to spiders' silks and insect cuticles, tendons, ligaments, and bones. Although the theories are examined in depth, Gosline's elegant discussion makes them accessible to anyone with an interest in the mechanics of life. Focusing on the materials from which animals are constructed, this book answers fundamental questions about mechanical properties in nature.




Materials Selection in Mechanical Design


Book Description

Understanding materials, their properties and behavior is fundamental to engineering design, and a key application of materials science. Written for all students of engineering, materials science and design, Materials Selection in Mechanical Design describes the procedures for material selection in mechanical design in order to ensure that the most suitable materials for a given application are identified from the full range of materials and section shapes available. Extensively revised for this fourth edition, Materials Selection in Mechanical Design is recognized as one of the leading materials selection texts, and provides a unique and genuinely innovative resource. Features new to this edition: - Material property charts now in full color throughout - Significant revisions of chapters on engineering materials, processes and process selection, and selection of material and shape while retaining the book's hallmark structure and subject content - Fully revised chapters on hybrid materials and materials and the environment - Appendix on data and information for engineering materials fully updated - Revised and expanded end-of-chapter exercises and additional worked examples Materials are introduced through their properties; materials selection charts (also available on line) capture the important features of all materials, allowing rapid retrieval of information and application of selection techniques. Merit indices, combined with charts, allow optimization of the materials selection process. Sources of material property data are reviewed and approaches to their use are given. Material processing and its influence on the design are discussed. New chapters on environmental issues, industrial engineering and materials design are included, as are new worked examples, exercise materials and a separate, online Instructor's Manual. New case studies have been developed to further illustrate procedures and to add to the practical implementation of the text. - The new edition of the leading materials selection text, now with full color material property charts - Includes significant revisions of chapters on engineering materials, processes and process selection, and selection of material and shape while retaining the book's hallmark structure and subject content - Fully revised chapters on hybrid materials and materials and the environment - Appendix on data and information for engineering materials fully updated - Revised and expanded end-of-chapter exercises and additional worked examples




Introductory Biomechanics


Book Description

Introductory Biomechanics is a new, integrated text written specifically for engineering students. It provides a broad overview of this important branch of the rapidly growing field of bioengineering. A wide selection of topics is presented, ranging from the mechanics of single cells to the dynamics of human movement. No prior biological knowledge is assumed and in each chapter, the relevant anatomy and physiology are first described. The biological system is then analyzed from a mechanical viewpoint by reducing it to its essential elements, using the laws of mechanics and then tying mechanical insights back to biological function. This integrated approach provides students with a deeper understanding of both the mechanics and the biology than from qualitative study alone. The text is supported by a wealth of illustrations, tables and examples, a large selection of suitable problems and hundreds of current references, making it an essential textbook for any biomechanics course.




Advances in Mechanical Design


Book Description

Focusing on innovation, these proceedings present recent advances in the field of mechanical design in China and offer researchers, scholars and scientists an international platform for presenting their research findings and exchanging ideas. Gathering outstanding papers from the 2019 International Conference on Mechanical Design (2019 ICMD) and the 20th Mechanical Design Annual Conference, the content is divided into six major sections: industrial design, reliability design, green design, intelligent design, bionic design and innovative design. Readers will learn about the latest trends, cutting-edge findings and hot topics in the field of design.




Engineering Animals


Book Description

The alarm calls of birds make them difficult for predators to locate, while the howl of wolves and the croak of bullfrogs are designed to carry across long distances. From an engineer's perspective, how do such specialized adaptations among living things really work? And how does physics constrain evolution, channeling it in particular directions? Writing with wit and a richly informed sense of wonder, Denny and McFadzean offer an expert look at animals as works of engineering, each exquisitely adapted to a specific manner of survival, whether that means spinning webs or flying across continents or hunting in the dark-or writing books. This particular book, containing more than a hundred illustrations, conveys clearly, for engineers and nonengineers alike, the physical principles underlying animal structure and behavior. Pigeons, for instance-when understood as marvels of engineering-are flying remote sensors: they have wideband acoustical receivers, hi-res optics, magnetic sensing, and celestial navigation. Albatrosses expend little energy while traveling across vast southern oceans, by exploiting a technique known to glider pilots as dynamic soaring. Among insects, one species of fly can locate the source of a sound precisely, even though the fly itself is much smaller than the wavelength of the sound it hears. And that big-brained, upright Great Ape? Evolution has equipped us to figure out an important fact about the natural world: that there is more to life than engineering, but no life at all without it.