Researchers are looking to the unique spiral shape of shark intestines to learn how to create fluid flow in one direction, which could have applications for soft robotics and medical devices.
Physicist Ido Levin and colleagues at the University of Washington created soft, 3D structures that mimic aspects of the shark intestines using a 3D printer. which have a soft, flexible design that deforms under flow, leading to faster fluid flow in one direction.
The team is investigating how the radius, pitch, and thickness of the inner structure impact fluid flow, and how the pipe deforms under flow. Understanding these parameters will aid in the development of similar structures that could be used for soft robotics, among other things.
“The researchers of the 2021 study connected a tube to the shark intestines, and put water with glycerin—a very viscous fluid—through these pipes. And they showed that if you connect these intestines in the same direction as a digestive tract, you get a faster flow of fluid than if you connect them the other way around,” said Levin.
“We thought this was very interesting from a physics perspective… one of the theorems in physics actually states that if you take a pipe, and you flow fluid very slowly through it, you have the same flow if you invert it. So we were very surprised to see experiments that contradict the theory. But then you remember that the intestines are not made out of steel—they’re made of something soft, so while fluid flows through the pipe, it deforms it.”
Previously, robots were made with rigid materials, but using soft materials that can deform in different ways opens up new possibilities. Levin believes this is a step forward in understanding the basic mechanics of the interaction between membranes and flow, and shows how simple systems could one day control industrial or medical devices.
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