Bionic Innovations: Integrating Nature-Inspired Design and Advanced Materials for Next-Generation Energy-Absorbing Structures

Dear Colleagues,

Against the backdrop of the rapid development of global technology, the design of efficient energy-absorbing structures has become a core demand in fields such as aerospace, automotive engineering, building protection, and biomedicine in order to deal with extreme load impacts. Bionic energy-absorbing structures significantly improve energy absorption efficiency while maintaining lightweight by extracting the geometric features, material distribution, and hierarchical coupling mechanism of biological prototypes, and are gradually breaking through the performance bottleneck of traditional structures under impact loads. With the rapid development of strategic fields such as new energy vehicles, deep space exploration, and disaster prevention and mitigation, higher requirements have been put forward for the lightweight, high reliability, and multi-functional integration of energy-absorbing structures. It is urgent to break through the traditional design paradigm through interdisciplinary integration. At present, the research hotspots in this field are concentrated on the in-depth exploration of the mechanism of bioenergy absorption, the collaborative design of bionic structures and advanced materials (such as carbon fiber composites, metal foams, and smart materials), and optimization theory and failure mechanism analysis under multi-load conditions. Carrying out relevant research is of great scientific significance and engineering application value, with the aim of improving the safety performance of high-end equipment and promoting the development of green manufacturing technology.

This Special Issue aims at bringing together scholars and engineers from around the world who are engaged in bionic design, energy-absorbing structures, and advanced materials research. By showcasing the latest fundamental research achievements and engineering application cases, it reveals the deep integration path of the energy dissipation mechanism in nature and modern engineering demands, and promotes the full-chain development of bionic energy-absorbing structures from theoretical innovation to practical application. It is expected that through interdisciplinary exchanges, new ideas and methods can be provided for solving complex impact protection problems in fields such as aerospace, transportation, building disaster prevention, and biomedicine, which will contribute to technological breakthroughs in the next generation of high-performance energy-absorbing structures.

This Special Issue, titled “Bionic Innovations: Integrating Nature-Inspired Design and Advanced Materials for Next-Generation Energy-Absorbing Structures”, aims at showcasing the latest research achievements, discoveries, viewpoints, and ideas on the future development of bionic energy-absorbing structures and materials. Its key points include but are not limited to the following:

1. Analysis of the mechanism of biological energy absorption;
2. Research on the bionic energy absorption characteristics of advanced materials (such as composite materials, porous materials, gradient materials, and smart materials);
3. Analysis of the synergistic energy absorption mechanism and failure mode of bionic structures and materials;
4. Bionic energy-absorbing structure manufacturing technology based on additive manufacturing;
5. Performance evaluation of bionic energy-absorbing structures under multiple load environments (shock, vibration, and fatigue);
6. Innovative applications of bionic energy-absorbing structures in aerospace, automotive engineering, and building protection;
7. Dynamic mechanical behavior and energy dissipation theory of bionic energy-absorbing materials;
8. Design and optimization of bionic energy-absorbing structures driven by machine learning or data.

This Special Issue welcomes original research papers, review articles, and technical reports, covering aspects such as theoretical analysis, experimental research, numerical simulation, and engineering application. Special encouragement is given to interdisciplinary research that combines biological morphology, materials science, mechanical engineering, and manufacturing technology, as well as application-oriented achievements that meet the major demands of the country. The research objects include but are not limited to bionic thin-walled structures, porous bionic materials, hierarchical composite energy absorption systems, and intelligent bionic energy absorption devices.

Dr. Jiafeng Song
Dr. Xinlin Li
Dr. Jianfei Zhou
Dr. Yansong Liu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• nature-inspired design
• energy-absorbing structures
• advanced materials
• biomimetic mechanics
• multiscale optimization
• impact resistance
• additive manufacturing
• energy dissipation mechanism
• composite materials
• safety engineering