RUI -- Computational and Experimental Biomechanics: Modeling the Non-linear Viscoelastic Behavior of the Vertebral Column of Swimming Elasmobranchs

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。在生物力学领域，研究人员使用工程原理来了解动物的工作原理。对于像鲨鱼这样的游泳动物，人们对它们的脊柱的工作原理知之甚少，脊柱是身体的主要骨架，像汽车的变速器一样运作，将动力从马达（肌肉）传递到身体的其他部位，从而拍打尾巴。游泳鲨鱼的脊柱是如何机械运作的是本研究的中心问题。为了回答这个问题，研究人员使用了两种方法：(1)他们在一个定制的测试机器中弯曲脊柱，该机器测量出做出真实弯曲运动所需的力和功率，并利用弯曲测试的结果，(2)他们建立了一个脊柱在游泳鲨鱼体内工作的计算机模型。根据初步结果，研究人员预测，脊柱不仅可以传递力和能量，还可以在鲨鱼游泳时储存和释放弹簧能量。研究人员还预计，在某些物种中，脊柱可能会起到减震器的作用，帮助鲨鱼平稳地进行转弯和加速等剧烈运动。这项研究创造了一种新的工具，计算机模拟的具有真实生物力学特征的游泳鲨鱼，可用于研究许多不同种类的鲨鱼或其他动物的游泳生物力学，如鲨鱼，有软骨而不是骨骼骨骼。此外，了解鲨鱼如何利用脊柱游泳可以帮助设计新型的高机动性水下航行器，用于海洋监测和勘探。在这个项目的三年里，将对12名本科生进行生物力学和计算数学的实践训练。每个学生都将参加一个为期两年的学徒指导计划，首先向其他学生学习，然后在实验室中教授其他学生。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)In the field of biomechanics, researchers use engineering principles to understand how animals work. For swimming animals like sharks, little is known about the workings of their vertebral columns, the body's main skeleton that operates like a car's transmission, transferring power from the motor (muscles) to the rest of the body to flap the tail. How the vertebral column operates mechanically in a swimming shark is the central question of this research. To answer this question, the researchers use two approaches: (1) they bend vertebral columns in a customized testing machine that measures the force and power it takes to make realistic bending motions and, using results from the bending tests, (2) they build a computer model of the vertebral column working inside of a swimming shark. Based on initial results, the researchers predict that vertebral columns not only transmit force and power, but also store and release spring energy as the shark swims. In some species, researchers also expect that the vertebral column might work like a shock absorber to help the shark smooth out jerky motions like turns and accelerations. This research creates a new tool, a computer-simulated swimming shark with realistic biomechanical features that can be used to study the swimming biomechanics of many different kinds of sharks, or other animals that, like sharks, have a cartilaginous rather than bony skeleton. In addition, understanding how sharks use their vertebral column to swim can help design new kinds of highly maneuverable underwater vehicles for oceanic monitoring and exploration. Over the three years of this project, hands-on training in biomechanics and computational mathematics will be given to 12 undergraduate students. Each student will engage in a two-year apprenticeship-mentorship program, first learning from and then teaching other students in the laboratory.