Researchers look to nature to design material with dual mechano-fluidic propertiesAlong the vast ocean floor lives a species of glass sponge known as Venus’ flower basket. Though delicate-looking, its exterior belies an exceptionally strong, lightweight skeleton that has intrigued scientists for the past 185 years.
Now, researchers from UC Berkeley and Harvard University have taken inspiration from this marine marvel to design new metamaterials that simultaneously optimize two connected, though often competing, requirements: structural resilience and fluid management.
As reported in Nature Communications, the researchers have built an automated framework that integrates mechanical and high-fidelity fluid dynamics simulations with optimization tools, allowing users to explore complex metamaterial design options.
“Using this novel approach, we were able to optimize for both the structural and the fluidic responses of our material — something that hasn’t ever been done before in metamaterial design,” said Costas Grigoropoulos, professor of mechanical engineering and the study’s co-principal investigator with Petros Koumoutsakos of Harvard University.
“This breakthrough could potentially help industrial manufacturers create new lightweight, high-performance materials in many application domains, including aerostructures and biostructures,” Grigoropoulos said.
