Lightweight and Fatigue-Resistant Engineering Design by Simulation of Biological Optimization Mechanisms

The saving of weight is a very important demand for technical components which are used in car manufacture, because of the connection with energy consumption. Another requirement is a high fatigue resistance to extend the life-time of the components. Based on the axiom of uniform stress, which is a basic design rule for biological load carriers, and by use of the Finite Element Method (FEM) two computer programs have been developed at Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe to transfer these biological optimization mechanism to mechanical engineering. The Computer Aided Optimization design procedure (CAO-method) simulates the principle of adaptive growth which biological structures, like trees, use to minimise stress concentrations on the surface. The Soft Kill Option (SKO-method) copies the adaptive bone mineralization and leads to lightweight structures.