Ebook: Design in Nature: Learning from Trees

The chicken bone which you nibbled and threw away yesterday was a high-tech product! In fact it was a superlative light-weight design functionally adapted to the mechanical requirements. No engineer in the world has as yet been able to copy this structural member, which is excellently optimized in its external shape and its internal architecture as regards minimum weight and maximum strength.
The tree trunk on which you recently carved your initials has also over the course of its life, steadily improved its internal and external structure and adapted itself optimally to new loads. In the course of its biomechanical self-optimization, it will heal the notch you cut as speedily as possible, in order to repair even the smallest weak point, which might otherwise cost it its life in the next storm.

This book is dedicated to the understanding of this biomechanical optimization of shape. And not only that: With the knowledge of these perfect processes of self-optimization in nature, techniques for the improvement of mechanical structural members could be developed. Industry already uses them. Nature shows us the way to eco-design, to machines in accordance with nature's laws governing structures and shapes.

CLAUS MATTHECK: Born in Dresden, Germany in 1947. Study of physics in Dresden, PhD in theoretical physics in 1973. Habilitation in the field of damage control in 1985. Lectures on biomechanics at the University of Karlsruhe. Head of the Department of Biomechanics of the Research Centre in Karlsruhe, where the results described in this book were obtained. Several awards in science and literature.

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The chicken bone which you nibbled and threw away yesterday was a high-tech product! In fact it was a superlative light-weight design functionally adapted to the mechanical requirements. No engineer in the world has as yet been able to copy this structural member, which is excellently optimized in its external shape and its internal architecture as regards minimum weight and maximum strength.
The tree trunk on which you recently carved your initials has also over the course of its life, steadily improved its internal and external structure and adapted itself optimally to new loads. In the course of its biomechanical self-optimization, it will heal the notch you cut as speedily as possible, in order to repair even the smallest weak point, which might otherwise cost it its life in the next storm.

This book is dedicated to the understanding of this biomechanical optimization of shape. And not only that: With the knowledge of these perfect processes of self-optimization in nature, techniques for the improvement of mechanical structural members could be developed. Industry already uses them. Nature shows us the way to eco-design, to machines in accordance with nature's laws governing structures and shapes.

CLAUS MATTHECK: Born in Dresden, Germany in 1947. Study of physics in Dresden, PhD in theoretical physics in 1973. Habilitation in the field of damage control in 1985. Lectures on biomechanics at the University of Karlsruhe. Head of the Department of Biomechanics of the Research Centre in Karlsruhe, where the results described in this book were obtained. Several awards in science and literature.

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The chicken bone which you nibbled and threw away yesterday was a high-tech product! In fact it was a superlative light-weight design functionally adapted to the mechanical requirements. No engineer in the world has as yet been able to copy this structural member, which is excellently optimized in its external shape and its internal architecture as regards minimum weight and maximum strength.
The tree trunk on which you recently carved your initials has also over the course of its life, steadily improved its internal and external structure and adapted itself optimally to new loads. In the course of its biomechanical self-optimization, it will heal the notch you cut as speedily as possible, in order to repair even the smallest weak point, which might otherwise cost it its life in the next storm.

This book is dedicated to the understanding of this biomechanical optimization of shape. And not only that: With the knowledge of these perfect processes of self-optimization in nature, techniques for the improvement of mechanical structural members could be developed. Industry already uses them. Nature shows us the way to eco-design, to machines in accordance with nature's laws governing structures and shapes.

CLAUS MATTHECK: Born in Dresden, Germany in 1947. Study of physics in Dresden, PhD in theoretical physics in 1973. Habilitation in the field of damage control in 1985. Lectures on biomechanics at the University of Karlsruhe. Head of the Department of Biomechanics of the Research Centre in Karlsruhe, where the results described in this book were obtained. Several awards in science and literature.
Content:
Front Matter....Pages I-XIV
Introduction....Pages 1-2
The Minimum on Mechanics....Pages 3-23
What Is a Good Mechanical Design?....Pages 25-27
The Axiom of Uniform Stress and How Computer Methods Derive from It....Pages 29-42
The Mechanics of Trees and the Self-Optimization of Tree Shape....Pages 43-51
The Right Load Distribution: The Axiom of Uniform Stress and Tree Shape....Pages 53-114
Annual Rings: The Internal Diary as a Consequence of the External Situation....Pages 115-128
Wood Fibres and Force Flow: The Fear of Shear Stress....Pages 129-139
How Does a Tree Break?....Pages 141-162
Can Trees Really Not Shrink?....Pages 163-164
Bones: Ultra-Light and Very Strong by Continuous Optimization of Shape....Pages 165-165
Bone Design: Selected Examples....Pages 167-182
Bony Frameworks and Tree Frameworks Compared....Pages 183-184
Claws and Thorns: Shape-Optimized by Success in the Lottery of Heredity....Pages 185-189
Biological Shells....Pages 191-198
Bracing: Ultra-Light but Highly Specialized....Pages 199-208
Shape Optimization by Growth in Engineering Design....Pages 209-220
Unity in Diversity: Design Target and Realization....Pages 221-222
Critique on Optimum Shape: Sensitization by Specialization....Pages 223-223
Outlook: Ecodesign and Close-to-Nature Computer Empiricism....Pages 225-226
Back Matter....Pages 271-276
New Examples of Application in Self-Explanatory Illustrations....Pages 227-269

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The chicken bone which you nibbled and threw away yesterday was a high-tech product! In fact it was a superlative light-weight design functionally adapted to the mechanical requirements. No engineer in the world has as yet been able to copy this structural member, which is excellently optimized in its external shape and its internal architecture as regards minimum weight and maximum strength.
The tree trunk on which you recently carved your initials has also over the course of its life, steadily improved its internal and external structure and adapted itself optimally to new loads. In the course of its biomechanical self-optimization, it will heal the notch you cut as speedily as possible, in order to repair even the smallest weak point, which might otherwise cost it its life in the next storm.

This book is dedicated to the understanding of this biomechanical optimization of shape. And not only that: With the knowledge of these perfect processes of self-optimization in nature, techniques for the improvement of mechanical structural members could be developed. Industry already uses them. Nature shows us the way to eco-design, to machines in accordance with nature's laws governing structures and shapes.

CLAUS MATTHECK: Born in Dresden, Germany in 1947. Study of physics in Dresden, PhD in theoretical physics in 1973. Habilitation in the field of damage control in 1985. Lectures on biomechanics at the University of Karlsruhe. Head of the Department of Biomechanics of the Research Centre in Karlsruhe, where the results described in this book were obtained. Several awards in science and literature.
Content:
Front Matter....Pages I-XIV
Introduction....Pages 1-2
The Minimum on Mechanics....Pages 3-23
What Is a Good Mechanical Design?....Pages 25-27
The Axiom of Uniform Stress and How Computer Methods Derive from It....Pages 29-42
The Mechanics of Trees and the Self-Optimization of Tree Shape....Pages 43-51
The Right Load Distribution: The Axiom of Uniform Stress and Tree Shape....Pages 53-114
Annual Rings: The Internal Diary as a Consequence of the External Situation....Pages 115-128
Wood Fibres and Force Flow: The Fear of Shear Stress....Pages 129-139
How Does a Tree Break?....Pages 141-162
Can Trees Really Not Shrink?....Pages 163-164
Bones: Ultra-Light and Very Strong by Continuous Optimization of Shape....Pages 165-165
Bone Design: Selected Examples....Pages 167-182
Bony Frameworks and Tree Frameworks Compared....Pages 183-184
Claws and Thorns: Shape-Optimized by Success in the Lottery of Heredity....Pages 185-189
Biological Shells....Pages 191-198
Bracing: Ultra-Light but Highly Specialized....Pages 199-208
Shape Optimization by Growth in Engineering Design....Pages 209-220
Unity in Diversity: Design Target and Realization....Pages 221-222
Critique on Optimum Shape: Sensitization by Specialization....Pages 223-223
Outlook: Ecodesign and Close-to-Nature Computer Empiricism....Pages 225-226
Back Matter....Pages 271-276
New Examples of Application in Self-Explanatory Illustrations....Pages 227-269
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