Effect of microstructure on the mechanical and damping behaviour of dragonfly wing veins.

ABSTRACT: Insect wing veins are biological composites of chitin and protein arranged in a complex lamellar configuration. Although these hierarchical structures are found in many 'venous wings' of insects, very little is known about their physical and mechanical characteristics. For the first time, we carried out a systematic comparative study to gain a better understanding of the influence of microstructure on the mechanical characteristics and damping behaviour of the veins. Morphological data have been used to develop a series of three-dimensional numerical models with different material properties and geometries. Finite-element analysis has been employed to simulate the mechanical response of the models under different loading conditions. The modelling strategy used in this study enabled us to d

SUBMITTER: Rajabi H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4785991 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature