scholarly journals Mechanics of snake biting: Experiments and modelling

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lakshminath Kundanati ◽  
Roberto Guarino ◽  
Michele Menegon ◽  
Nicola M. Pugno

AbstractAmong all the vertebrates, snakes possess the most sophisticated venom delivering system using their fangs. Fangs of many animals are well adapted to the mechanical loads experienced during the functions such as breaking the diet and puncturing the skin of the prey. Thus, investigation and modelling of puncturing mechanics of snakes is of importance to understand the form-function relationship of the fangs and tissue-fang interactions in detail. We have thus chosen fangs of two snake species i.e. viper (Bitis arietans) and burrowing snake (Atractaspis aterrima), with different shape and size and performed insertion experiments using tissue phantoms. Our results showed that both the species have similar mechanical properties but there was a difference in the insertion forces owing to the difference in shape of the fang. Also, our modelling of the fang-tissue interactions predicted some parameters close to the experimental values. Thus, our study can help in the development of bioinspired needles that can potentially have reduced insertion forces and less damage to the tissue.

Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (9) ◽  
pp. 2455
Author(s):  
Jiayuan He ◽  
Weizhen Chen ◽  
Boshan Zhang ◽  
Jiangjiang Yu ◽  
Hang Liu

Due to the sharp and corrosion-prone features of steel fibers, there is a demand for ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) reinforced with nonmetallic fibers. In this paper, glass fiber (GF) and the high-performance polypropylene (HPP) fiber were selected to prepare UHPC, and the effects of different fibers on the compressive, tensile and bending properties of UHPC were investigated, experimentally and numerically. Then, the damage evolution of UHPC was further studied numerically, adopting the concrete damaged plasticity (CDP) model. The difference between the simulation values and experimental values was within 5.0%, verifying the reliability of the numerical model. The results indicate that 2.0% fiber content in UHPC provides better mechanical properties. In addition, the glass fiber was more significant in strengthening the effect. Compared with HPP-UHPC, the compressive, tensile and flexural strength of GF-UHPC increased by about 20%, 30% and 40%, respectively. However, the flexural toughness indexes I5, I10 and I20 of HPP-UHPC were about 1.2, 2.0 and 3.8 times those of GF-UHPC, respectively, showing that the toughening effect of the HPP fiber is better.


2005 ◽  
Vol 98 (4) ◽  
pp. 1434-1441 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren D. Black ◽  
Kelly K. Brewer ◽  
Shirley M. Morris ◽  
Barbara M. Schreiber ◽  
Paul Toselli ◽  
...  

Pulmonary emphysema and vessel wall aneurysms are diseases characterized by elastolytic damage to elastin fibers that leads to mechanical failure. To model this, neonatal rat aortic smooth muscle cells were cultured, accumulating an extracellular matrix rich in elastin, and mechanical measurements were made before and during enzymatic digestion of elastin. Specifically, the cells in the cultures were killed with sodium azide, the cultures were lifted from the flask, cut into small strips, and fixed to a computer-controlled lever arm and a force transducer. The strips were subjected to a broadband displacement signal to study the dynamic mechanical properties of the samples. Also, quasi-static stress-strain curves were measured. The dynamic data were fit to a linear viscoelastic model to estimate the tissues' loss (G) and storage (H) modulus coefficients, which were evaluated before and during 30 min of elastase treatment, at which point a failure test was performed. G and H decreased significantly to 30% of their baseline values after 30 min. The failure stress of control samples was ∼15 times higher than that of the digested samples. Understanding the structure-function relationship of elastin networks and the effects of elastolytic injury on their mechanical properties can lead to the elucidation of the mechanism of elastin fiber failure and evaluation of possible treatments to enhance repair in diseases involving elastolytic injury.


2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (12) ◽  
pp. 181447 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fredrick J. Larabee ◽  
Adrian A. Smith ◽  
Andrew V. Suarez

What is the limit of animal speed and what mechanisms produce the fastest movements? More than natural history trivia, the answer provides key insight into the form–function relationship of musculoskeletal movement and can determine the outcome of predator–prey interactions. The fastest known animal movements belong to arthropods, including trap-jaw ants, mantis shrimp and froghoppers, that have incorporated latches and springs into their appendage systems to overcome the limits of muscle power. In contrast to these examples of power amplification, where separate structures act as latch and spring to accelerate an appendage, some animals use a ‘snap-jaw’ mechanism that incorporates the latch and spring on the accelerating appendage itself. We examined the kinematics and functional morphology of the Dracula ant, Mystrium camillae , who use a snap-jaw mechanism to quickly slide their mandibles across each other similar to a finger snap. Kinematic analysis of high-speed video revealed that snap-jaw ant mandibles complete their strike in as little as 23 µsec and reach peak velocities of 90 m s −1 , making them the fastest known animal appendage. Finite-element analysis demonstrated that snap-jaw mandibles were less stiff than biting non-power-amplified mandibles, consistent with their use as a flexible spring. These results extend our understanding of animal speed and demonstrate how small changes in morphology can result in dramatic differences in performance.


Author(s):  
В.Г. ЖУКОВ ◽  
В.М. ЧЕСНОКОВ ◽  
Н.Д. ЛУКИН

В различных отраслях промышленности используют материалы, представляющие собой пористые среды, от которых во многом зависит эффективность процесса производства и, следовательно, качество и стоимость продукта. Наиболее распространенными в пищевых производствах являются процессы фильтрационного разделения, сушки и фильтрационной пропитки. Их решение обычно строится на основе технологических коэффициентов пористости и проницаемости, величины которых определяют относительно простыми экспериментальными методиками для реальной полиразмерной пористой среды. В этом случае невозможно аналитически учесть различие скоростей фильтрации в порах разного размера, изменение влажности пористого материала в процессах сушки или вытеснение заполняющей поры подвижной среды. Поэтому для решения этой проблемы необходим учет статистического характера распределения пор по их размерам. В настоящей работе разработано аналитическое представление формул коэффициентов прерывистости, просветности, пористости и проницаемости, основанное на статистических функциях распределения пор по размерам. В качестве объекта исследования рассматривали пористую среду из мелкозернистого или консолидированного материала, поровое пространство которого состояло из полиразмерного ансамбля сквозных поровых каналов в виде статистически упорядоченной изотропной однородной системы сообщающихся пор случайных, весьма малых размеров. Методика получения формул была основана на статистической формуле логнормального распределения пор характерного размера случайной величины и теореме о взаимосвязи технологических коэффициентов для описания свойств пористой среды. Расчеты проводили с использованием программы Mathcad. Правильность расчетных формул подтверждена совпадением предельных точек расчетных графиков с точками гистограмм, построенных на основе экспериментальных значений коэффициентов. In various industries, materials are used that are porous media, on which the efficiency of the production process and, consequently, the quality and cost of the product largely depend. The most common processes in food production are filtration separation, drying and filtration impregnation. Their solution is usually based on the technological coefficients of porosity and permeability, the values of which are determined by relatively simple experimental methods for a real poly-dimensional porous medium. In this case, it is impossible to analytically take into account the difference in filtration rates in pores of different sizes, the change in the moisture content of the porous material during drying, or the displacement of the mobile medium filling the pores. Therefore to solve this problem, it is necessary to take into account the statistical nature of the distribution of pores by their size. In this paper an analytical representation of the formulas for the coefficients of discontinuity, transparency, porosity, and permeability is developed based on the statistical functions of the pore size distribution. The object of the study was a porous medium made of fine-grained or consolidated material, the pore space of which consisted of a poly-dimensional ensemble of through pore channels in the form of a statistically ordered isotropic homogeneous system of communicating pores of random, very small sizes. The method of obtaining formulas was based on the statistical formula of the lognormal distribution of pores of the characteristic size of a random variable and the theorem on the relationship of technological coefficients for describing the properties of a porous medium. The calculations were performed using the Mathcad program. The correctness of the calculated formulas is confirmed by the coincidence of the limit points of the calculated graphs with the points of the histograms constructed on the basis of the experimental values of the coefficients.


1986 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 1329-1336 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. P. Mortola ◽  
C. A. Morgan ◽  
V. Virgona

Newborn rats were maintained in an hypoxic chamber (10% O2 in N2) from the day of birth up to 2 wk of postnatal life. Body weight (BW) and nose-tail length were less in the hypoxic exposed (H) rats than in control (C) animals growing in air. Hematocrit rose from about 37% to about 51%. Oxygen consumption (VO2), measured with a manometric method, was lower in H than in C rats; the difference remained at 5–7 days even after normalization by BW. At 5–7 days ventilation, measured with an airflow plethysmograph, was much more elevated in H rats (whether breathing 10% O2 or air) than in C rats, with an increase in both tidal volume and frequency. This indicates that the biphasic ventilatory response, characterized by an initial rise and then a fall of ventilation toward normoxic values, commonly observed in newborns during acute hypoxic challenge is an immediate but only transient response. The dry lung weight-to-BW ratio and alveolar size were larger in H than in C rats. Lung volumes at 20 cmH2O were similar, despite the smaller BW of the H rats. Hence, in the rat, chronic hypoxia in the immediate postnatal period increases O2-carrying capacity, decreases metabolic demands, increases alveolar O2 availability, and promotes structural changes in the lung that protect the gas exchange area and optimize the structure-function relationship of the lung. These results may also suggest that the lung structural alterations with chronic hypoxia should not be attributed to changes in VO2 but, eventually, to the ventilatory action of the organ.


2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 110
Author(s):  
Assiss. Prof. Dr. Sabiha Mahdi Mahdi ◽  
Dr. Firas Abd K. Abd K.

Aim: The aimed study was to evaluate the influence of silver nitrate on surfacehardness and tensile strength of acrylic resins.Materials and methods: A total of 60 specimens were made from heat polymerizingresins. Two mechanical tests were utilized (surface hardness and tensile strength)and 4 experimental groups according to the concentration of silver nitrate used.The specimens without the use of silver nitrate were considered as control. Fortensile strength, all specimens were subjected to force till fracture. For surfacehardness, the specimens were tested via a durometer hardness tester. Allspecimens data were analyzed via ANOVA and Tukey tests.Results: The addition of silver nitrate to acrylic resins reduced significantly thetensile strength. Statistically, highly significant differences were found among allgroups (P≤0.001). Also, the difference between control and experimental groupswas highly significant (P≤0.001). For surface hardness, the silver nitrate improvedthe surface hardness of acrylics. Highly significant differences were statisticallyobserved between control and 900 ppm group (P≤0.001); and among all groups(P≤0.001)with exception that no significant differences between control and150ppm; and between 150ppm and 900ppm groups(P>0.05).Conclusion: The addition of silver nitrate to acrylics reduced significantly the tensilestrength and improved slightly the surface hardness.


1984 ◽  
Vol 49 (5) ◽  
pp. 1061-1078 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiří Čeleda ◽  
Stanislav Škramovský

Based on the earlier paper introducing a concept of the apparent parachor of a solute in the solution, we have eliminated in the present work algebraically the effect which is introduced into this quantity by the additivity of the apparent molal volumes. The difference remaining from the apparent parachor after substracting the contribution corresponding to the apparent volume ( for which the present authors suggest the name metachor) was evaluated from the experimental values of the surface tension of aqueous solutions for a set of 1,1-, 1,2- and 2,1-valent electrolytes. This difference showed to be independent of concentration up to the very high values of the order of units mol dm-3 but it was directly proportional to the number of the free charges (with a proportionality factor 5 ± 1 cm3 mol-1 identical for all studied electrolytes). The metachor can be, for this reason, a suitable characteristic for detection of the association of ions and formation of complexes in the solutions of electrolytes, up to high concentrations where other methods are failing.


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