Computational and experimental investigation of bio-inspired 3D printed prototypes

Many bio-structures, such as the paddlefish rostrum, owe their remarkable resistance to permanent deformation to an optimized arrangement of hard and soft materials. This study utilizes the unique characteristics seen in biological systems to determine the optimized composition of hard and soft materials to develop an enhanced damping mechanism for dynamic load resistance. This work develops novel 3D printed prototypes inspired by the material composition of the paddlefish rostrum. The design-test-build cycle of the prototypes will consist of numerical analyses to inform the experimental boundary conditions and multi-material configuration. In biological systems, the boundary conditions determine an optimized material configuration. This study consists of quasi-static flexure experiments under different load and displacement boundary conditions to determine the optimized configuration for the given boundary condition. This investigation compares the prototypes' deformation, load transfer distribution, shear capacity, and the optimized material configuration per specific load and displacement boundary conditions against other samples with single material properties. When compared to isotropic materials currently in use, bio-inspired, multi-material structures demonstrate an enhanced stress to deformation performance . The study also determined the best material layup for the 3D printed prototype for each of the load and displacement boundary conditions.