Solid Biomechanics / / Roland Ennos.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Princeton University Press eBook-Package Backlist 2000-2013
• VerfasserIn: Ennos, Roland,
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2011]; ©2012
• Year of Publication: 2011
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (264 p.) :; 142 line illus. 3 tables.

Solid Biomechanics is the first book to comprehensively review the mechanical design of organisms. With a physical approach and a minimum of mathematics, the textbook introduces readers to the world of structural mechanics and sheds light on the dazzling array of mechanical adaptations that link creatures as dissimilar as bacteria, plants, and animals. Exploring a wide range of subjects in depth, from spider silks and sharkskin to climbing plants and human food processing, this immensely accessible text demonstrates that the bodies of animals and plants are masterpieces of engineering, enabling them to survive in a hostile world. The textbook describes how organisms construct materials from limited components, arrange materials into efficient structures that withstand different types of stresses, and interact mechanically with their environment. Looking at practical and historical aspects of the subject, the book delves into how the mechanics of organisms might be applied to other engineering scenarios and considers the ways structural biomechanics could and should develop in the future if more is to be learned about the form and function of organisms. Solid Biomechanics will be useful to all those interested in how organisms work, from biologists and engineers to physicists and students of biomechanics, bionics, and materials science. The first comprehensive review of the structural mechanics of organisms Introduces the subject using a physical approach involving minimal mathematics Three complementary sections: materials, structures, and mechanical interactions of organisms Links the dazzling array of mechanical adaptations seen in widely differing organisms Practical and historical approach shows how mechanical adaptations have been discovered and how readers can perform their own investigations

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- PREFACE -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- PART 1. Understanding Elasticity -- CHAPTER 1. The Properties of Materials -- PART 2. Biological Materials -- CHAPTER 2. Biological Rubbers -- CHAPTER 3. Complex Polymers -- CHAPTER 4. Polymer Composites -- CHAPTER 5. Composites Incorporating Ceramics -- PART 3. Biological Structures -- CHAPTER 6. Tensile Structures -- CHAPTER 7. Hydrostatic Skeletons -- CHAPTER 8. Structures in Bending -- CHAPTER 9. Structures in Compression -- CHAPTER 10. Structures in Torsion -- CHAPTER 11. Joints and Levers -- PART 4. Mechanical Interactions -- CHAPTER 12. Attachments -- CHAPTER 13. Interactions with the Mechanical Environment -- CHAPTER 14. Mechanical Interactions between Organisms -- PART 5. Looking Forward -- CHAPTER 15. The Future of Structural Biomechanics -- GLOSSARY -- REFERENCES -- INDEX