Bionic Optimization Strategies

The realization that nature is a continuous optimization process founded a new engineering discipline. Beginning in the 1960s, various schools began to study and to reproduce bionic processes to improve previous optimization solutions. One of the most well-known examples is the winglet, an extension to the wings of aircrafts to stabilize the flow around the end of the wing. Another application is the sandwich structures of tailored blanks, where a sheet of material is subdivided into different layers. Only the outer ones, which are most important to the stiffness, are made of heavy and expensive metals. The filler, which only needs to keep the metal sheets separated by a certain distance, is made from less expensive and light-weight material. These blanks, especially honeycombs, are extremely stiff structures composed of minimal amounts of material. Unfortunately, their properties are very non-isotropic, so their use as load-carrying materials must be done with care and understanding.