NATURE-INSPIRED INNOVATION How do you keep a building cool in a hot climate using hardly any energy, or develop a high-speed bullet train that makes hardly any sound? It is the purpose of biomimicry, the examination of nature’s systems to solve very human problems, to find answers to these questions. Victoria Hattersley looks at some of these solutions, and at how PLM (product lifecycle management) tools and 3D technologies can be used to aid the design and manufacturing processes.
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he principles of biomimetics are increasingly used in almost every manufacturing sector to develop more environmentally friendly solutions, where they can help product designers with lightweighting, cutting energy use or even developing more efficient ways to use renewable energies. At the Dassault Systèmes European Customer Forum held in Paris in November 2011, Janine Benyus, author and president of the US-based Biomimicry 3.8 association, discussed the many ways in which biomimetics are changing our interaction with the world. She explained: “Biomimicry is the process of studying nature to find out what it would do to reduce noise, keep things cool, reduce waste etc. – enabling us all to live together on the planet in a sustainable way.” Taking inspiration from systems which have been tried and tested in nature over millions of years, scientists and technologists are now able to create more ecologically sustainable answers to day-to-day problems. 3D simulation and CAD software programmes, such as those developed by Dassault Systèmes, are just some of the tools which are being used to make these ideas a reality. 14 Industry Europe
Modelling from nature But how exactly can 3D modelling systems help to mimic nature? What can they offer the design team to make their job easier? The programmes offered by Dassault Systèmes alone serve as examples of the huge range of sophisticated tools available to designers now. Its Catia programme allows designers to realise a concept in its entirety using only 3D virtual modelling. What 3D allows a designer to do is test out how a system might appear and what kinds of problems might be encountered in its manufacture. Programmes such as Simulia, meanwhile, give realistic simulations, factoring in every variable, to test how a certain product or concept will perform and react in the real world. Using 3D and PLM software means problems can be eliminated early in the design phase without the need for costly re-modelling later on. It is also a far more sustainable way of designing because it means that when it comes to manufacturing, only the minimum material necessary need be used. Delmia, meanwhile, is a programme which, following on from the design phase, enables manufacturers to work out the best ways to
actually produce using less energy and suppliers, minimising supply logistics and where possible using local manufacturing. This means that not only are its users developing sustainable solutions by mimicking nature’s way of responding to problems, they are also carrying this out in the most environmentally friendly way possible. Say, for example, you were trying to develop a method of making car components lightweight but still strong enough to withstand any stress. Engineers at Adam Opel Gmbh have been designing engine components with the aid of computer simulation techniques such as CAO (computer-aided optimisation) and SKO (soft kill option), developed by Claus Matthek at the Karlsruhe Research Centre in Germany, which can define the material property of each element of the design and show the simulated effects of adding or removing material. Prof. Dr. Lothar Harzheim, biomimetics specialist at Adam Opel, explained the principles behind this: “Both CAO and SKO are based on the idea that nature is the ultimate designer and that, consequently, biological load carriers – such as trees and bones – have been optimised during the evolution process. In a
