[Past Projects]
Dr. Petra Gruber and Ariana Rupp
In our biomimicry design lab, we are interested in learning from leaf shapes. Leaves not only are plants’ solar cells, they also pull nutritious water through plant tissues via transpiration.
Because of this, leaves continuously endure energy and water flows, with leaf structure shaping such flows, potentially helping dissipation of water vapor and excessive heat.
Can we discover structural lessons in leaf design, to apply to human technologies which also uses evaporation for thermal management?
There are two sides to learning from leaf thermodynamics and shapes:
- Biology efforts involve studying leaf exchange from real plants under different environmental conditions and collecting data related to leaf shape, water status and temperature.
- The engineering approach deals with application of design lessons, testing of leaf-inspired models in controlled environments, precise measuring and data analysis.
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