NATURE-INSPIRED DESIGN: MODELING THE BIOMECHANICS OF THE SEAHORSE TAIL

摘要

A versatile kinematic model of the seahorse tail was constructed. The model shows that the articulation of a chain of skeletal elements determines the remarkable combination of biomechanical characteristics of the tail. By contracting the median ventral muscles and hypaxial myomere muscles in the model, we were able to simulate the ventral tail bending. The insights that the model provides in the mechanics that allow the combination of high radial stiffness with bending flexibility will be used in designing some biomedical instruments.