简介：Thefracturetoughnessofhardbiomaterials,suchasnacre,bovinehoofwallandbeetlecuticle,isassociatedwithfibrousorlamellarstructuresthatdeflectorstopgrowingcracks.Theirhardnessandreducedmodulusweremeasuredbyusingananoindenterinthispaper.Micro/nanoscalecracksweregeneratedbynanoindentationusingaBerkovichtip.Nanoindentationofnacreandbovinehoofwallresultedinpile-uparoundtheindent.Itwasfoundthatthefracturetoughness(KC)ofbovinehoofwallisthemaximum,thesecondisnacre,andtheelytracuticleofdungbeetleistheleastone.

简介：Inthispaper,awildboarheadwastakenasthebionicresearchobjectforthedevelopmentofnewridgers,akindofplough.Thereverseengineeringtechnologywasadoptedtoobtainthesurfacegeometricalinformationofthehead.Severalthree-dimensional(3D)pointcloudsoftheheadwerecapturedfirstusinganon-touchlaserscanner,andanintegratedpointcloudwasgeneratedbyaligningthesepointcloudsusingUG/Imageware.Then,thedigitalsurfacemodeloftheheadwasrebuiltbymeansofCATIA.Thecharacteristiccurvesofthesurfacemodelwereanalyzed.Theresultsshowthattheaverageerrorbetweentherebuiltsurfaceandthepointcloudis?0.431mm.Themaxcurvatureoftheridgeontheneboftheheadis0.187mm?1,andthemaxandminGausscurvaturesonthesurfaceare0.008mm?2and?0.002mm?2.Thesegeometricalinformationaretheessentialparametersforbiomimeticsstudyoftheridger.

简介：Oneofmanyinterestingresearchactivitiesinbiofluidmechanicsisdedicatedtoinvestigationsoflocomotioninwater.Someofpropulsionmechanismsobservedintheunderwaterworldareusedinthedevelopmentprocessofunderwaterauto-nomicvehicles(AUV).Inordertocharacteriseseveralsolutionsaccordingtotheirmanoeuvrability,influenceonthesur-roundingfluidandenergeticefficiency,adetailedanalysisoffin-likemovementisindispensable.Inthecurrentpaperananalysisofundulatory,oscillatoryandcombinedfin-likemovementsbymeansofnumericalsimulationiscarriedout.TheconservationequationofmassandtheconservationequationofmomentumaresolvedwiththeFiniteVolumeMethod(FVM)byuseofthesoftwareCFX-10.0.Theundulatoryandoscillatoryfinmovementsaremodelledwithanequationthatisimplementedwithinanadditionalsubroutineandjoinedwiththemainsolver.Numericalsimulationsarecarriedoutinthecomputationaldomain,inwhichonefinisfixedinaflow-throughwaterduct.SimulationsarecarriedoutintherangeoftheRenumberupto105.Theresultsshowsignificantinfluenceofappliedfinmotiononthevelocitydistributioninthesurroundingfluid.