Biomimetic Design of Long Bones from Human Skeleton for Structural Systems

The concept of green construction enables a revolutionary change in the construction sector in terms of design, production, and management. One such method is introducing the concept of biomimicry. Biomimicry is utilized in the field of design to solve problems. This paper mainly discusses about the mimicking of human skeleton for structural design. The idea is based on mimicking humerus bone as a tension member and femur bone as a compression member. The optimized members of compression and tension (strut and tie) were put together to form the mimicked king post truss analytically with the conventional cross section truss. Three cases were considered analytically with the average diameter, maximum diameter, and equivalent self-weight to the members of mimicked truss. Experimentally testing was also conducted with the non-destructive test and the point load test. The result shows that the ultimate load carrying capacities of the critical compression member and the tension member were 846.16 kN and 1952 kN, respectively. Meanwhile, the achieved loads were 780.30 kN and 1729 kN. Also, the ratio of analytical stiffness to self-weight was 21.83 mm^-1 and the ratio of experimental stiffness to self-weight was 19.15 mm^-1. Therefore, from the results, it was observed that the equivalent results for mimic truss can be achieved in a truss which is modeled of the equivalent self-weight. Hence, the development and use of structural elements using biomimicry is feasible and will lead to economic, green, and energy efficient structures.