Biologically Inspired Environmentally Benign Design and Manufacturing

这项拨款为研究生物学启发原理和解决方案如何支持工程设计以追求技术和环境优越的解决方案提供资金。许多发明都可以追溯到从生物系统获得的灵感。拟议的研究将a)扩展现有的仿生学数据库，其内容和解决方案侧重于选定的机械工程过程，以促进将生物灵感解决方案整合到工程设计过程中；B)确定一套生物圈及其生命系统的总体原则，这些原则可用作环境优先做法的指导方针；c)将这些仿生学原理和概念整合并应用于选定的案例研究，验证结果，并概述一个受生物学启发的多尺度环境良性设计指导系统的框架。这项工作将与工程顶点设计课程相结合，其双重目标是让工程学生和实践者了解仿生学，并深入了解该方法的效率和有效性。如果成功，本研究的结果将导致从观察到的生命系统和生物圈的内在原则评估环境绩效的指标、度量和工具，并为减少环境影响提供一种新的方法。这项工作直接将工程师和生物学家联系起来，形式化并测试仿生原理在工程设计中的适用性，以实现技术和环境上的卓越设计，创造经济和生态的双赢局面。虽然一些作者和科学家已经建议或呼吁转向自然作为环境指导，但这些想法在EBDM中的正式发展既新颖又独特。

This grant provides funding for investigating how biologically inspired principles and solutions can support engineering design in pursuit of solutions that are technically and environmentally superior. Numerous inventions can be traced to inspirations received from biological systems. The proposed research will a) expand an existing biomimicry database with content and solutions focused on selected mechanical engineering processes in order to facilitate integration of bio-inspired solutions into engineering design processes; b) identify a set of overarching principles of the biosphere and its living systems which can be used as guidelines for environmentally preferred practices; c) integrate and apply these biomimicry principles and concepts to selected case studies, verify the results, and outline a framework for a biologically inspired multi-scale Environmentally Benign Design Guidance System. The work will be integrated with engineering capstone design classes with the dual goal to expose engineering students and practitioners to biomimicry as well as to gain insight into the efficiency and effectiveness of the approach.If successful, the results of this research will lead to indicators, metrics, and tools for assessing environmental performance from observed inherent principles of living systems and biosphere and provide a novel approach for environmental impact reduction. This work directly links engineers and biologists to formalize and test the applicability of biomimetic principles in engineering design to achieve technically and environmentally superior designs, creating an economic and ecological win-win situation. While several authors and scientists have suggested or called for a turn to nature for environmental guidance, a formal development of these ideas in EBDM is both new and unique.