Evolutionary Mechanics of Impulsive Biological Systems: Guiding Scalable Synthetic Design
Abstract
The objective of this MURI is to establish a unified theory for understanding biological and engineered impulsive systems. The team will approach the objective using a thermodynamic framework linked to impulsive performance. The team will integrate mathematical analysis, tests of biological impulsive systems, and synthesis of impulsive materials and mechanisms. The thermodynamic framework consists of five phases connected: (1) chemical energy conversion in cellular biological systems that potentially circumvent the force-velocity tradeoffs of actin-myosin muscle mechanisms; (2) actuation tuned to spring loading through novel engineering implementations and informed by analyses of muscular and cellular thermodynamics; (3) potential energy storage through a diversity of biological materials, scales and geometries to inform synthetic elastic design; (4) rapid conversion from potential to kinetic energy (power amplification) - a defining feature of impulsive systems - through analyses of rate-dependence in biological materials/geometries, the mechanics of biological linkages and latches, and their directed synthesis into novel impulsive designs; and, (5) environment-system interactions through rigorous tests of the effects of environmental substrates and geometries, internal dissipation and reset mechanisms for repeated use and mitigation of failure due to environmental forces.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jan 12, 2017
- Source ID
- W911NF1510358
Entities
People
- S. Patek
Organizations
- Army Contracting Command
- Duke University
- United States Army