Strategy: Skeleton provides support: sponges
Strategy: Shape of feather shafts protect from wind: birds
The spicular skeleton of sponges provides structural support in the form of dispersed struts.
The shafts of feathers and petioles of leaves protect from wind by having non-circular cross sections.
In nature, the [dispersal strut] scheme is commoner but still far from widespread—the clearest example, is the spicular skeleton of sponges, in which tiny rigid elements are laced together by collagen . And there are occasional forays in this direction among sea anemones (coelenterates) and sea cucumbers (echinoderms).
In cross section, feathers look like grooved petioles upside down. Again, that makes functional sense. If an elongated structure must have a groove to raise EI/GJ ('twistiness-to-bendiness ratio'), the groove should be on the side that's loaded in tension. That location won't increase the structure's tendency to buckle, since tensile loading is nearly shape-indifferent.
It ought to be reemphasized that the arrangement is not intrinsically flawed in some way; the limitation is more likely to lie in problems of compatibility with attachment surfaces for muscles.
A leaf blade bends its petiole downward; its aerodynamic loading bends a feather upward--leaf blades hang from the ends of their petioles; flying birds hang from bases of their wing feathers.
Inspiring organism
Inspiring organism
Porifera
Aves
Bioinspired products and application ideas
Bioinspired products and application ideas
Industrial Sector(s) interested in this strategy: Refugee camps, military, recreation
Industrial Sector(s) interested in this strategy: Architecture, construction, structural engineering
Application Ideas
Application Ideas
More wind-resistant tents that require fewer poles.
Incorporating materials with noncircular (and nonrectangular) cross sections into building design, construction, and engineering applications, such as fence posts or bridge supports.
Nature strategies for mantaining physical integrity - Buckling