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SUMMARY:Insect biomechanics - from sticky feet to broken legs and ruptured
  wings - Dr Jan-Henning Dirks : Trinity College Dublin
DTSTART:20120511T130000Z
DTEND:20120511T140000Z
UID:TALK37812@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Ms Helen Gardner
DESCRIPTION:Every day\, and most of the time without even noticing it\, we
  are surrounded by one of the most successful groups of animals: insects. 
 They have been running\, crawling and flying around the earth since before
  the dinosaurs\, they can survive in rain-forests\, deserts and even in An
 tarctica. Insects can stick to almost all surfaces\, carry several times t
 heir bodyweight\, perform astonishing jumps and even migrate over thousand
 s of kilometres. How do they do this?\n\nOne of the keys in understanding 
 the insects’ secrets of evolutionary success is looking at the biomechan
 ics of their versatile exoskeleton made of cuticle. This talk will give a 
 brief introduction to the biomechanics of insect feet and will then focus 
 on the mechanical properties of insect cuticle\, in particular the cuticle
  of locust legs and wings.\n\nRecent experiments show that the cuticle fou
 nd in the locust legs has an almost unique combination of high fracture to
 ughness with relatively low structural stiffness\, making it one of the to
 ughest of all natural materials. The wing membrane however is not very tou
 gh\, as one would expect in a durable high-performance material. Instead\,
  the wings achieve their high fracture resistance with the help of their c
 haracteristic vein pattern. Interestingly\, almost all veins of the locust
  hind wing show the fracture-mechanic’s optimal spacing\, which correspo
 nds to the so called “critical crack-length” of the membrane. This evo
 lutionary adaptation combines high toughness with a minimum of weight with
 in the locust’s hind wing structure.\n\nThese findings are not only fasc
 inating from the biologists point of view: understanding more about insect
  biomechanics might also inspire the development of novel biomimetic adhes
 ives\, as well as lightweight and durable composite materials.
LOCATION:Oatley Seminar Room\, Department of Engineering
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