Biological Growth

Petals and leaves are usually curled and exhibit intriguing morphology evolution upon growth, which contributes to their important biological functions. To understand the underlying morphoelastic mechanism and to determine the crucial factors that govern the growth-induced instability patterning in curved petals and leaves, we develop an active thin shell model that can describe variable curvatures and spontaneous growth, within the framework of general differential geometry based on curvilinear coordinates and hyperelastic deformation theory.

Dear iMechanicians,

Growth-induced deformation or morphoelasticity  is an interesting phenomenon ranging from living tissues to biological plants in nature. We recently publish a paper in JMPS that solves some challenging boundary value problems by addressing few key issues in computational morphoelasticity. It might be interesting for you.  

PhD project 1 (Reference: NGCM-0011)

Generalised asymptotic numerical methods for buckling instability problems in biological systems and bio-inspired morphing structures

Biotribology Group, nCATS
Faculty of Engineering and the Environment
University of Southampton, United Kingdom

Background