A Bioinspired Self-Burrowing Probe in Shallow Granular Materials

Zhang, Ningning; Chen, Yuyan; Martínez, Alejandro; Fuentes, Raúl

doi:10.1061/jggefk.gteng-11507

Cited by 7 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…The area around the tip component was fluidized during burrowing, resulting in an exponential reduction in digging energy, as shown in Figure 8 . Zhang et al [ 80 ] designed bio-inspired self-burrowing probes. Through discrete element simulation, they validated that these probes effectively mitigated penetration resistance by imitating the dual-anchor locomotion mechanism, thus enhancing penetration efficiency.…”

Section: Biomimetic Soil-engaging Componentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biomimetic Design of Soil-Engaging Components: A Review

Xu,

Qi,

Gao

et al. 2024

Biomimetics

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Soil-engaging components play a critical role in agricultural production and engineering construction. However, the soil-engaging components directly interacting with the soil often suffer from the problems of high resistance, adhesion, and wear, which significantly reduce the efficiency and quality of soil operations. A large number of featured studies on the design of soil-engaging components have been carried out while applying the principles of bionics extensively, and significant research results have been achieved. This review conducts a comprehensive literature survey on the application of biomimetics in the design of soil-engaging components. The focus is on performance optimization in regard to the following three aspects: draught reduction, anti-adhesion, and wear resistance. The mechanisms of various biomimetic soil-engaging components are systematically explained. Based on the literature analysis and biomimetic research, future trends in the development of biomimetic soil-engaging components are discussed from both the mechanism and application perspectives. This research is expected to provide new insights and inspiration for addressing related scientific and engineering challenges.

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Section: Biomimetic Soil-engaging Componentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biomimetic Design of Soil-Engaging Components: A Review

Xu,

Qi,

Gao

et al. 2024

Biomimetics

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“…This is partly made possible by the range of designs, materials, and mechanical systems used by the living world to address specific issues (Vogel 2013). Recent work on biologically-inspired design related to geotechnical engineering include rootinspired anchorage systems for retaining structures (Burrall et al 2020), honeycomb shaped geogrids for soil reinforcement (Arab et al 2020), an underground communication system (Zhong and Tao 2022), soilstructure interaction with directionally dependent friction inspired by snake skin (O'Hara and Martinez 2020), bio-inspired self-burrowing probes (Khosravi et al 2018, Ma et al 2020, Tao et al 2020, Bagheri et al 2023, Zhang et al 2023, soil penetration inspired by plant root circumnutation movement for explorative robots (Del Dottore et al 2017), plant root inspired self-growing robots (Sadeghi et al 2017), sandfish profile intruder tip shape for horizontal penetration (Patino-Ramirez and O'Sullivan 2022), and insights into improvement of the design of underground tunnels and storage facilities from observing the movement of ants (Espinoza andSantamarina 2010, Buarque de Macedo et al 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biomimetic intruder tip design for horizontal penetration into a granular pile

Sandeep,

Evans

2023

Bioinspir. Biomim.

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In nature, woodpeckers peck trees with no reported brain injury. A highly functional system comprising a hyoid bone, smooth skull, straight pointed beak with varying lengths of upper and lower beak bones, and rhamphotheca is one of the adaptations that enable efficient pecking. Soil penetration is an energy-intensive procedure used in civil infrastructure applications and is often followed by pushing, impact driving, and digging. This study uses discrete element modeling to evaluate the effect of woodpecker beak mimetic intruder tip design with wedge offsets on lift and drag forces during horizontal penetration into granular piles. The findings show that the wedge offsets of the intruder have a negligible effect on drag forces. By contrast, lift forces can be manipulated by adjusting the top and bottom offsets of the intruder, which can be used to guide the intruder upward, downwards, or horizontally. Furthermore, as the width of the intruder increased, the lift and drag forces also increased.

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A numerical study on the multi-cycle self-burrowing of a dual-anchor probe in shallow coarse-grained soils of varying density

Chen,

Zhang,

Fuentes

et al. 2023

Acta Geotech.

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Development of self-burrowing probes that can penetrate soils without the aid of external reaction force from drill rigs and trucks would facilitate site characterization activities and deployment of sensors underneath existing structures and in locations with limited access (e.g., toe of dams, extraterrestrial bodies). Successful deployment of self-burrowing probes in the field will require several cycles of expansion, penetration, and contraction motions due to the geometric constraints and the increase in soil strength with depth. This study explores the multi-cycle performance of a dual-anchor self-burrowing probe in granular assemblies of varying density using discrete element modeling simulations. The simulated probe consists of an expandable top shaft, expandable bottom shaft, and a conical tip. The expansion of the shafts are force-controlled, the shaft contraction and tip advancement are displacement-controlled, and the horizontal tip oscillation is employed to reduce the penetration resistance. The performance of the self-burrowing probe in terms of self-burrowing distance is greater in the medium dense specimen than in the dense and loose specimens due to the high magnitude of anchorage force in comparison with penetration resistance. For all three soil densities, most of the mechanical work is done by tip oscillation; however, this accounts for a greater percentage of the total work in the denser specimen. Additionally, while tip oscillation aids in enabling self-burrowing to greater depths, it also produces a greater work demand. The results presented here can help evaluate the effects of soil density on probe prototypes and estimate the work requited for self-burrowing.

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A Bioinspired Self-Burrowing Probe in Shallow Granular Materials

Cited by 7 publications

References 37 publications

Biomimetic Design of Soil-Engaging Components: A Review

Biomimetic Design of Soil-Engaging Components: A Review

Biomimetic intruder tip design for horizontal penetration into a granular pile

A numerical study on the multi-cycle self-burrowing of a dual-anchor probe in shallow coarse-grained soils of varying density

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