EAPSI: Analysis of Soil Deformation during Loading of a Plant Root-Inspired Foundation using X-ray Computed Tomography

这项拟议研究的首要目标是为开发一种生物启发的植物根基获得洞察力。这将要求研究人员调查植物的根是如何将植物锚定在土壤中的，以及它们如何抵抗外部载荷，如草食动物的拔出、自重和雨水的挤压或大风的弯曲。因此，如果能够加强传统建筑的基础，以提高其在材料使用量方面的效率，该结构不仅成本更低，而且需要的混凝土和钢材也更少，这对环境有许多影响。该项目将在日本横须贺的港口和机场研究所进行，由松村聪博士指导。特别是，这项研究试图分析使用3D打印制作的根部模拟物在拉伸或压缩下加载时的土壤位移场。扰动土层将使用颗粒跟踪图像分析方案来表征，其中将在加载过程中以设定的增量获取3D图像。此外，了解在拉伸加载过程中的表面破坏和在根部压缩过程中对土壤承载能力有贡献的区域将有助于建立分析模型来预测在两种加载条件下的根部基础的能力。此外，这个项目寻求在颗粒水平上对埋藏的植物根型系统的力学行为有一个基本的了解，然后可以很容易地扩展到田间规模的应用。东亚和太平洋夏季学院计划下的这个奖项支持一名美国研究生的夏季研究，并由NSF和日本科学促进会联合资助。

The overarching goal of the proposed research is to gain insight for the development of a bio-inspired plant root foundation. This will require the researcher to investigate how the roots of plants anchor the plant in the soil and how they resist external loads such as pullout from herbivores, compression from self-weight and rain or bending from high winds. Consequently, if a conventional building foundation can be enhanced to improve their efficiency in terms of volume of material used, the structure will not only cost less, but will require less concrete and steel, which has many environmental implications. This project will be conducted at the Port and Airport Research Institute in Yokosuka, Japan under the guidance of Dr. Satoshi Matsumura. In particular, the research seeks to analyze the soil displacement field when a root analog, fabricated using 3D printing, is loaded under tension or compression. The disturbed soil zone will be characterized by using a particle tracking image analysis scheme, where 3D images will be acquired at set increments during the loading process. Additionally, knowledge of the surface failure during tensile loading and the region contributing to the bearing capacity of the soil during root compression will serve to inform analytical models to predict the capacity of the root foundations under the two loading conditions. Furthermore, this project seeks to develop a fundamental understanding of the mechanical behavior of buried plant root-type systems at the particle level, which can then be easily expanded to field-scale applications.This award under the East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes program supports summer research by a U.S. graduate student and is funded jointly by NSF and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.