Engineering Case Studies

1. How Emerging Technologies and Biomimiry can Help Solving Water Problems: Desert Case
Studies
https://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/how-emerging-technologies-and-biomimicry-can-help
-solving-waterproblems-desert-case-studies-2329-8863-1000e130.php?aid=61694
By 2050, Earth’s population will increase to nine billion, but by 2030, half will be threatened by
diminishing safe drinking water. By using biomimicry, engineers are able to use desert animal
and natural techniques to save water resources through decontamination, water collection, and
purification. One technique is fog harvesting where ​vertical canvas are used to make fog
condense into droplets of water and flow down towards a trough below the canvas without any
external energy when the air has enough moisture that could be captured and turned into drinking
water. The next is water filtration where plants, tree seeds, ashes, feces, and the Sun are used to
purify water so it could be safe to use. Another is laser cloud seeding where first silver iodide
crystals are used to generate clouds and then laser pulses take away the electrons from atoms
from clouds, causing the creation of ​hydroxyl radicals​, which allow sulphur and nitrogen
dioxides in the air to allow water droplets to grow. The next is biomimetic dew harvesters which
is based off of the stenocara beetle that lives in the Namib Desert in Southern Africa where it
collects dew on its back due to wax ​nanostructure ​on the surface of its wings. This in turn can
inspire the creation of water trapping tents, building coverings, and water condensers and
engines. The next is the wind turbine where Eole Water recovered 500 to 800 ounces of water
from one day from dry desert air in the United Arab Emirates. Another foundation, Warka
Water, recovers gallons of water a day from the air. The structure has a rigid outside to resist
tough winds with and inside of a mesh net made of nylon or ​polypropylene​ that collects dew
from the outside, and when the cold air condenses and droplets roll down to the bottom of the
container, water passes through a purifying tube that is then connected to above the surface
systems. The next is ​Sietch Nevada (an oasis in desert) where it stores water in aquifers and
tunnels which act as irrigation channels underground. It also harvests surface water, generates
energy from renewable resources, and grows food. The next is LEAF (a self generating water
source) which can produce 20 ounces of water a day which is a condensation unit that mimics a
leaf where condensations from dew forms into water droplets and is purified through a sand
filtration system all through solar energy. The last is the iceberg rodeo which was thought of by
French engineer, Georges Mougin, thirty years ago and consisted of using glacial ice for drinking
water instead of allowing it to melt into the ocean.

Fog Harvesting Laser Cloud Seeding Stenocara Beetle

2. Flippers Provide Lift, Reduce Drag
https://asknature.org/strategy/flippers-provide-lift-reduce-drag/#.Wf_tztOGP6Z
Humpback whales have bumps known as tubercles that are found on their elongate pectoral
flippers that are both symmetrical and mobile. They increase flow and aerodynamic efficiency by
disrupting the line of pressure, allowing the whales to use the ocean to better maneuver
themselves at sharper angles at any speed, associated with their feeding behavior of bubble net
feeding. Water is drawn to the valleys of the tubercles that allow the flipper to lift and maneuver.
A study has shown an increase of 32% reduction in drag, 8% improvement in lift, and a 40%
increase in angle of attack over smooth flippers, similar to smooth leading edges of turbines and
other kinds of blades. WhalePower, a wind turbine project, is applying this knowledge to HVAC
systems and computer fans
Architectural Case Studies
1. Mound Facilitates Gas Exchange
https://asknature.org/strategy/mound-facilitates-gas-exchange/#.Wf_urNOGP6Z
Mound-building macro termites create vertical homes made up of soil, saliva, and dung
measuring up to several meters high with routes of tunnels underneath underground.
The mounds act like lungs for gas exchange between the underground nests and the air above
ground outside the mound. Due to outside temperature, the nest changes in heat due to the
surrounding soil but which has a large thermal capacity where it absorbs large amounts of heat
before experiencing actual changes in temperature to its surroundings. As temperature changes
and the Sun hits different spots of the mound throughout the day, currents of rising and falling air
are created inside due to the temperature gradient between the mound periphery and center. Also,
wind energy allows mixing of outside and inside air, facilitating gas exchange in the nest. For
humans, energy-saving climate control systems can be created from the biomimicry of these
termites. In addition, regular walls of buildings are made as barriers to isolate a definite space
shielding the area from the outside yet window and fans are used to regulate the temperature
within, essentially undoing what the walls first did. Using termite behavior, we can build walls as
adaptive interfaces where energy across the wall isn’t blocked but managed by the wall itself for
a comfortable environment inside by saving money and energy.
2. ​Self-Shaping Shelters that could Revolutionize Emergency Housing
https://inhabitat.com/self-assembling-shelters-that-could-revolutionize-emergency-housing/
Haresh Lalvani, working in the ​Pratt Institute Center for Experimental Structures​, was inspired
by the modern and never- ending refugee crisis to create easy to make emergency homes. His
goal is to create one thin sheet of metal that would assemble itself in less that one minute into its
own shape that would assemble, repair, grow, and evolve on its own, generating futuristic
geometry and an ephemeral building type. These are being made by converting 2D sheets of
perforated metals into 3D rigid structures through a robotic laser cutter that creates variable
openings into the sheets which can be stretched apart, allowing for flexibility and the creation of
individual shapes. Lalvani’s idea derived from stem cells and genes in the human body that
follow genomic instructions encoded in raw material in DNA (the homes are given the power to
shape themselves) since the human body is “the only place where software and hardware are the
same thing.”
Personal Case Study (Architectural)
In order to make an effective political statement, I chose coral to represent climate change and
the harmful man-made effects on the environment. Corals represent the essence of life and show
that everything, despite not being able to move or look like an animal, is breathing and alive. As
an example of human harm, the Great Barrier Reef, a stretch of corals and marine life for 4,600
miles near Australia, is about 50 percent dead due to rising ocean temperatures, harmful acidic
levels from fossil fuels and gas, overfishing of wildlife, and coral bleaching (the loss of their
vibrant colors). The reef is home to not only 845 species of corals but also almost 2,000 forms
marine life, and with their endangerment comes the endangerment of many other animals that we
actually consider animals. I’ve always loved snorkeling and exploring the water that we know so
little about. I think that corals specifically represent art in its purest and natural form due to their
many beautiful pigments, shapes, and structures. Corals are made up of biogenic lime (calcium
carbonate, what human bones are composed of) but also 99 percent water, so they are very
vulnerable (especially to s​ponges, worms, and bivalves)​. They protect themselves with a tough
exoskeleton composed of a storage of limestone. There are three different types of coral reefs
with different architectural purposes: the fringing reef, a shallow lagoon, that borders shores, the
barrier reef, the barrier reef that forms when land masses sink, and the atoll that surround a
central lagoon in the shape of a circle. As a result, because of climate change and the increasing
numbers of natural disasters (including the destruction of the Great Barrier Reef), I’m inspired to
use limestone and calcium carbonate in building homes resistant to hurricanes, tornadoes, floods,
and earthquakes since corals protect themselves well from predators and ocean movement. Plus,
it would be positively uplifting to create some homes with the beautiful colors of the ocean!