Carmakers Copy Human Bones to Build Lighter Autos

The human skeletal system is a structure millions of years in the making, consisting of bones that handle all the stresses and pressures of a running or contorting human body with optimal efficiency. And automakers want to steal the secrets of our bones.

You might have heard of biomimicry, a catchall term for projects in which scientists and engineers try to copy the talents of plants or animals that nature has honed over the eons. In this case, bone-growth technology, nature is influencing design: Manufacturers are trying to copy bone growth to build more durable structures and lighter vehicles that get better fuel economy.

"We started to try to mimic how the body grows bone; how does it put down material in response to its environment," says Jeff Brennan, a biomedical and mechanical engineer and the chief marketing officer with Altair Engineering, a software and consulting company. "[Bones] follow an optimization algorithm," Brennan continues. "If we can quantify that, we can grow man-made structures in the same way."

Back when Altair was a small Michigan-based company?before its revenue reached into the hundreds of millions?Brennan spearheaded the creation of OptiStruct, the software that helps fuse man-made structures with nature. The program works like other industrial design software, but presents solutions with more curves and fewer edges.

Picture a 3D box: You describe the space in which you're working, attach constraint points virtually, and apply loads. Then OptiStruct takes over and begins running simulations such as evolution on fast-forward, trying to figure out the most efficient structure to withstand those loads.

"Imagine the box being full of a bunch of holes, like Swiss cheese, and all the holes are the same size and uniformly dispersed," Brennan says. "The optimization algorithm says in this one area I need more material, so I'm going to shrink the holes, and in this other area, it's not very stressed, so I'm going to increase the size of the holes." After running the simulation anywhere from 10 to 50 times, what's left is a 3D simulation of load paths and an optimized structure, showing engineers the most efficient way to support a load.

OptiStruct isn't something new. The project began in 1992, and since then the software has been tweaked and improved. Its first customers were the Big Three automakers. GM used OptiStruct to improve powertrain bracket designs in Oldsmobile Auroras and Cadillacs. Then, in the late '90s, European automakers such as Opal, Renault, and Fiat, aggressively adopted the software in their designs. Now more manufacturers, including BMW, Honda, Toyota, and Volkswagen, have begun using OptiStruct.

A Volkswagen powertrain bracket for the alternator, A/C compressor, and steering pump that was designed using OptiStruct.

Why the sudden rush for biomimicry? The answer is pretty simple?lightweighting. Fewer pounds means better mpg, and so carmakers are cutting the weight from new vehicles to meet stringent future fuel economy regulations. OptiStruct's algorithms could help car companies use less steel or aluminum, which means a lighter vehicle.

Altair has also taken biomimicry into the aerospace sector. In one example the company worked with Airbus to remove about 1100 pounds from the A380's rib?wing package, a weight reduction of nearly 40 percent. David Mason, vice president of Global Automotive with Altair, says the consumer electronics companies also use the software in drop-testing and lightweighting, where 1 more gram of plastic in more than 1 million devices can make a huge difference. Altair is also working with alternative automotive design with Edison2, winner of the X-Prize in 2010, and Elio Motors, creators of the 84-mpg, three-wheeled Elio.

For Brennan, human bone-growth technology could only be the beginning: "You have to say to yourself, is our structure the best?" He points to other natural structures such as trees and spider webs that are also strong and lightweight. "When you learn something," Brennan says, "you realize how little you know."

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/news/industry/carmakers-copy-human-bones-to-build-lighter-autos-15677023?src=rss

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