Biomimetic structures and materials for energy absorption

Statement of the Problem: It is widely known that the availability of lightweight structures with excellent energy absorption capacity is essential for numerous engineering applications. Inspired by many biological structures in nature, bio-inspired structures have been proved to exhibit a significant improvement over conventional structures in energy absorption capacity. Therefore, use of the biomimetic approach for designing novel lightweight structures with excellent energy absorption capacity has been increasing in engineering fields in recent years. In this presentation, a comprehensive overview of recent advances in the development of bio-inspired structures for energy absorption applications at the Swinburne University Technology, Australia is presented. Firstly, I describe the unique features and remarkable mechanical properties of biological structures such as durian shell, pomelo peel, which can be mimicked to design efficient energy absorbers.