Behavior of a silkworm silk fiber web structure under wind load

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2015.

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Su, Isabelle
Other Authors: Markus J. Buehler.
Format: Thesis
Language:eng
Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/99633
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author Su, Isabelle
author2 Markus J. Buehler.
author_facet Markus J. Buehler.
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author_sort Su, Isabelle
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description Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2015.
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spelling mit-1721.1/996332019-04-11T02:26:04Z Behavior of a silkworm silk fiber web structure under wind load Su, Isabelle Markus J. Buehler. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Civil and Environmental Engineering. Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2015. Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. Includes bibliographical references (pages 57-59). Optimized by Nature for millions of years, silk is one of the strongest biomaterials with outstanding mechanical properties, it is both extensible and tough in order to ensure specific functions. In particular, protein-based Bombyx mori silkworm silk's stiffness is originated from the crystalline region of the semi-crystalline fibroin and the extensibility from the length hidden within the amorphous region. The silk fiber is coated with sericin which acts as a glue connecting fibers together and as a matrix in the three-dimensional nonwoven multi-layer composite structure of the cocoon. These properties can be engineered and enhanced with forced reeling silk: fast spun silks are stiffer and less extensible than slow reeled silk. For this study, two-dimensional single cocoon layer webs are created by silkworms and tested under an increasing wind load until failure, the deflections are recorded. To complement the experimental results, the web's structure is generated in two different models: straight fiber web and wavy fiber web models. Both models are studied under constant wind load for four type of fibers with different reeling speeds thus different mechanical properties. These tests indicate that the deflection increases with wind load for both the experiments and the simulations, but also that webs composed of fibers with different mechanical properties are not necessary stiffer and less extensible as the material they are composed of are stiffer and less extensible because of the high redundancy and randomness of the web structure. The divergence in results between the experiments and the simulations suggests the need to improve the models to be more in accordance with the real webs. by Isabelle Su. M. Eng. 2015-10-30T19:02:46Z 2015-10-30T19:02:46Z 2015 2015 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/99633 926724396 eng M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 59 pages application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology
spellingShingle Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Su, Isabelle
Behavior of a silkworm silk fiber web structure under wind load
title Behavior of a silkworm silk fiber web structure under wind load
title_full Behavior of a silkworm silk fiber web structure under wind load
title_fullStr Behavior of a silkworm silk fiber web structure under wind load
title_full_unstemmed Behavior of a silkworm silk fiber web structure under wind load
title_short Behavior of a silkworm silk fiber web structure under wind load
title_sort behavior of a silkworm silk fiber web structure under wind load
topic Civil and Environmental Engineering.
url http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/99633
work_keys_str_mv AT suisabelle behaviorofasilkwormsilkfiberwebstructureunderwindload