Multifaceted Bioinspiration for Improving the Shaft Resistance of Deep Foundations

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Journal of Bionic Engineering http://www.springer.com/journal/42235

Multifaceted Bioinspiration for Improving the Shaft Resistance of Deep Foundations Seyed Ali Aleali, Paola Bandini*, Craig Michael Newtson Center for Bio-mediated and Bio-inspired Geotechnics, Department of Civil Engineering, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico 88003-8001, USA

Abstract This paper describes the bioinspiration process to derive design concepts for new deep foundation systems that have greater axial capacity per unit volume of pile material compared to conventional deep foundations. The study led to bioinspired ideas that provide greater load capacity by increasing the pile shaft resistance. The bioinspiration approach used problem-solving strategies to define the problem and transfer strategies from biology to geotechnical engineering. The bioinspiration considered the load transfer mechanism of hydroskeletons and the anchorage of the earthworm, razor clam, kelp, and lateral roots of plants. The biostrategies that were transferred to the engineering domain included a flexible but incompressible core, passive behaviour against external loading, a longitudinally split shell that allows expansion for anchorage, and lateral root-type or setae-type anchoring elements. The concepts of three bioinspired deep foundation systems were proposed and described. The advantage of this approach was illustrated with two examples of the new laterally expansive pile in drained sand under axial compression. The finite element analysis of these examples showed that the new laterally expansive pile can provide considerably greater load capacity compared to a conventional cylindrical pile due to the increased lateral confining pressure developed along the expanded pile core. Keywords: bioinspiration, expansion, anchorage, deep foundation, pile capacity, frictional resistance Copyright © The author(s) 2020.

1 Introduction Identifying and studying behaviours and strategies found in organisms to learn from them and extract desirable ideas to solve problems or enhance solutions in geotechnical engineering is a relatively new subdiscipline within biogeotechnics[1]. Nature can be a mentor, a benchmark, and a model because human beings can learn from nature, measure correctness of their current solutions based on it, and take inspiration from it[2]. The end goal of learning from nature and biological organisms is often invention and creation. Having this common goal has led researchers to use different terms such as biomimetics, biomimicry, and bioinspiration with similar meaning[3]. In this paper, bioinspiration refers to the process of learning from one or more organisms or being inspired by them with the purpose of solving a problem or improving a process in another field. When successful, the outcome of bioinspiration is a solution to a problem or a more effective design. Bioinspiration may start by studying, in detail, one *Corresponding author: Paola Bandini E-mail: [email protected]

or more selected organisms, describing their forms and beha