Contribution of friction and adhesion to the reliable attachment of a gecko to smooth inclines

Zhouyi WANG; Qiang XING; Wenbo WANG; Aihong JI; Zhendong DAI

doi:10.1007/s40544-017-0174-6

Friction 2018, 6(4): 407-419 https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-017-0174-6

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Open Access | Issue | Published: 20 November 2017

Contribution of friction and adhesion to the reliable attachment of a gecko to smooth inclines

Show Author's Information Hide Author's Information Zhouyi WANG^¹(

), Qiang XING^², Wenbo WANG^¹, Aihong JI^¹, Zhendong DAI^¹(

)

¹ Institute of Bio-inspired Structure and Surface Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China

² School of Mechanical Engineering, Nantong University, Nantong 226019, China

Keywords:

friction, adhesion, incline, frictional adhesion, gecko

Cite this article:

WANG Z, XING Q, WANG W, et al. Contribution of friction and adhesion to the reliable attachment of a gecko to smooth inclines. Friction, 2018, 6(4): 407-419. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-017-0174-6

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Abstract

Geckos’ ability to move on steep surfaces depends on their excellent adhesive structure, timely adjustments on locomotor behaviors, and elaborates control on reaction forces. However, it is still unclear how they can generate a sufficient driving force that is necessary for locomotion, while ensuring reliable adhesion on steep inclines. We measured the forces acting on each foot and recorded the contact states between feet and substrates when geckos encountered smooth inclination challenges ranging from 0° to 180°. The critical angles of the resultant force vectors of the front and hind-feet increased with respect to the incline angles. When the incline angle became greater than 120°, the critical angles of the front- and hind-feet were similar, and the averages of the critical angles of the front- and hind-feet were both smaller than 120°, indicating that the complicated and accurate synergy among toes endows gecko’s foot an obvious characteristic of “frictional adhesion” during locomotion. Additionally, we established a contact mechanical model for gecko’s foot in order to quantify the contribution of the frictional forces generated by the heel, and the adhesion forces generated by the toes on various inclines. The synergy between multiple contact mechanisms (friction or adhesion) is critical for the reliable attachment on an inclined surface, which is impossible to achieve by using a single-contact mechanism, thereby increasing the animal’s ability to adapt to its environment.

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About this article

Contribution of friction and adhesion to the reliable attachment of a gecko to smooth inclines

Show Author's information Hide Author's Information Zhouyi WANG^¹(

), Qiang XING^², Wenbo WANG^¹, Aihong JI^¹, Zhendong DAI^¹(

)

¹ Institute of Bio-inspired Structure and Surface Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China

² School of Mechanical Engineering, Nantong University, Nantong 226019, China

Abstract

Keywords: friction, adhesion, incline, frictional adhesion, gecko

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Publication history

Received: 13 October 2016

Revised: 05 December 2016

Accepted: 19 June 2017

Published: 20 November 2017

Issue date: December 2018

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Acknowledgements

We thank Chao Wu, We Li, and Qijun Jiang for assistance with data collection and manuscript writing. Yi Song and Lei Cai provided insightful comments on the manuscript. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51435008 to Z.D. and 31601870 to Z.W.) and Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, China (Grant No. SBK2016040649 to Z.W.).

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