The skeleton of sea sponges inspired scientists to create a new type of material

In their study, the scientists found that the diagonal reinforcement strategy of the sponge provides

highest buckling resistance forgiven amount of material of her body. “We can create stronger and more resilient structures by intelligently rearranging existing material within the structure,” explains Matheus Fernandez, a graduate student at SEAS and first author of the paper.

“In many areas, such as aerospacetechnique, strength-to-weight ratio is critical, ”adds James Weaver, SEAS Senior Scientist and co-author. "This biology-inspired geometry could provide a roadmap for the development of lighter, stronger structures for a wide range of applications."

Skeleton of Euplectella aspergillum, a deep sea sponge. Credit: Video courtesy of the Harvard Teaching Lab.

If you've ever walked across a covered bridgeor putting together a metal shelf for storing things, you've seen diagonal grid architecture. This type of design uses many small, closely spaced diagonal beams to evenly distribute the applied loads. This geometry was patented in the early 1800s by the architect and civil engineer Ithiel Town, who wanted to create strong bridges from lightweight and cheap materials.

Town has developed a simpleand an economical way to stabilize square lattice structures, which is still used today. It gets the job done, but it's not optimal, resulting in wasted or wasted material and limited building height. “One of the main questions driving this research was whether we could make these structures more efficient in terms of material distribution. ultimately using less material to achieve the same strength?” explains Fernandez.

Glass sponges, group to which it belongsEuplectella aspergillum, also known as Venus's Flower Basket, had a head start of nearly half a billion years in research and development. To support its tubular body, Euplectella aspergillum uses two sets of parallel diagonal skeletal struts that intersect and merge with the underlying square mesh to form a durable checkerboard pattern.

Composite rendering that goes fromglass sponge glazing on the left to the welded reinforcement grille on the right, emphasizing the biological nature of the study. Credit: Image Courtesy of Peter Allen, Ryan Allen, and James K. Weaver / Harvard

“We've been studying the relationships between structure and function in sponge skeletal systems for over 20 years, and these species continue to amaze us,” Weaver emphasizes.

During simulations and experimentsthe researchers replicated the design and compared the skeletal architecture of the sponge to the existing lattice geometry. The design of the sponge has surpassed them all, withstanding heavier loads. The researchers showed that the paired, parallel, cross-diagonal structure improved overall structural strength by more than 20 percent, without the need for additional material to achieve this effect.

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