title: Stress distribution and contact area measurements of a gecko toe using a high-resolution tactile sensor.
abstract: 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 μm 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.
authors: Department of Applied Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
authors: Eric V
authors: EV
authors: Eason
authors: Elliot W
authors: EW
authors: Hawkes
authors: Marc
authors: M
authors: Windheim
authors: David L
authors: DL
authors: Christensen
authors: Thomas
authors: T
authors: Libby
authors: Mark R
authors: MR
authors: Cutkosky
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D008116:Lizards / Q000502:physiology*; D008365:Manometry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D018670:Monitoring, Ambulatory / Q000295:instrumentation*; D011312:Pressure; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D014034:Toes / Q000502:physiology*; D014160:Transducers, Pressure