Journal
BIOINSPIRATION & BIOMIMETICS
Volume 10, Issue 1, Pages -Publisher
IOP PUBLISHING LTD
DOI: 10.1088/1748-3190/10/1/016013
Keywords
gecko; adhesion; stress distribution; contact area
Funding
- Hertz Fellowship
- Stanford Graduate Fellowship
- National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship
- SRI
- DARPA [HR0011-12-C-0040]
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The adhesive systems of geckos have been widely studied and have been a great source of bioinspiration. Load-sharing (i.e. preventing stress concentrations through equal distribution of loads) is necessary to maximize the performance of an adhesive system, but it is not known to what extent load-sharing occurs in gecko toes. In this paper, we present in vivo measurements of the stress distribution and contact area on the toes of a tokay gecko (Gekko gecko) using a custom tactile sensor with 100 mu m spatial resolution. We found that the stress distributions were nonuniform, with large variations in stress between and within lamellae, suggesting that load-sharing in the tokay gecko is uneven. These results may be relevant to the understanding of gecko morphology and the design of improved synthetic adhesive systems.
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