Inspiring engineers: nature's small miracles

The Victoria water lily is a delicate flower, but it's also a lot stronger than it looks. For instance, Victoria has no problem supporting this baby. A larger specimen could even support an adult. How is that possible?

That's what an Airbus aerospace engineer is trying to find out here. First he scans the delicate Victoria structure with a 3D scanner. Then he enters the data into a computer program.

Computer tools are perfect for remodeling nature-based structures. Imitating these structures in design and construction is called bionics. This example is from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research. The computer calculates how a net structure needs to be set up to support weight loads in two different locations.

That's similar to how a water lily does it. The stems on the underside of the leaves are thicker and denser where great pressure pushes down on the water lily. In places where there's less pressure, the distance between the stems is greater and the stems themselves are slimmer.

This airplane spoiler was inspired by the water lily model and printed with selective laser melting. It's an extremely lightweight but sturdy metal structure that could not have been built using any other methods.

Peter Sander championed 3D printing at Airbus in Hamburg, Germany. The water lily spoiler is just one of many projects he's done with "Laser Zentrum Nord," a production company tied to a university. Starting in 2016, Airbus will begin mass production with its own 3D printers.

This little bit of inspiration also comes courtesy of the Alfred Wegener Institute. It's a microscope image of a diatom, a kind of algae. The skeleton of this tiny organism has to withstand very heavy loads, and as a result it has used - what we would consider - principles of construction since the beginning of its evolution.

The institute's researchers looked to the diatom when they created these honeycomb structures. They are used in numerous areas of light weight construction, for example when building airplanes and cars. These combs were printed with 3D printers and are made of plastic.

This entire airplane was built using bionic principles. The "bare bones" look as though they have grown organically, like a tree. But this is only a study by Airbus and far from mass production. It will be several decades before we can actually enjoy such views from an airplane.

The metal printers that Airbus will start using in 2016 can only print relatively small parts with a length of approximately one meter. Whole planes like this one won't be coming from the printer any time soon. But even small parts can make a structure significantly lighter - and that means that in the future, planes will guzzle a lot less fuel.