Snakeskin-inspired piles and tech transfer Featuring Alejandro Martínez

UC Davis professor Alejandro Martínez is moving his bio-inspired snakeskin piles into industry practice. The novel pile-surface employs “frictional directionality” characteristic of snakeskin. Field trials provided better than expected results, and Martínez is now working to get his new design into the hands of practicing geotechnical engineers. Much of his NSF-supported research took place at the NHERI at UC Davis Center for Geotechnical Modeling; the project is part of the NSF-funded Engineering Research Center, the Center for Bio-mediated and Bio-inspired Geotechnics, CBBG, at Arizona State University.

Background info on Martínez’s snakeskin-inspired piles: https://www.designsafe-ci.org/community/news/2022/august/piles-inspired-snakeskin/

Learn more about the NSF-funded Engineering Research Center (ERC) called the Center for Bio-mediated and Bio-inspired Geotechnics, CBBG, based at Arizona State University https://cbbg.engineering.asu.edu/

Engineering researchers use centrifugal force to study natural hazards at the NHERI at UC Davis Center for Geotechnical Modeling facility: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlLTdPaOUFk

Read up on Professor Martínez’s research at UC Davis: https://faculty.engineering.ucdavis.edu/martinez/

Follow Alejandro Martínez on X: @MartVAlejandro

Follow the NHERI Center for Geotechnical Modeling on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Center-for-Geotechnical-Modeling/10006311110707