Berlin 2018 – scientific programme

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SYAM: Symposium Physics of Ancient Materials

SYAM 1: Physics of Ancient Materials

SYAM 1.5: Invited Talk

Friday, March 16, 2018, 11:45–12:15, H 0105

Finite element analysis and biomechanical interpretation of fossil material properties — •Emily Rayfield — Univ. Bristol, UK

In this presentation I will discuss how palaeontologists are applying physical principles to understand the function and evolutionary history of extinct animals. Organisms that inhabited deep time may look very different to those of the present day, but the material building blocks of the skeleton, such as bone, cartilage and shell, remain the same. Furthermore, we have reason to believe that the properties of skeletal materials, such as Young’s modulus, yield and failure strength, also remain largely unchanged. We can therefore apply concepts such as force transfer of moving parts and skeletal stress, strain and deformation to fossils. In particular, I will discuss how palaeontologists can apply beam theory and the finite element method to understand skeletal function and evolution; how this builds on the principle of bone remodelling to applied loads to infer the functional capabilities of extinct bony structures. I will focus on how these methods have helped elucidate feeding behaviour and evolution in the skull of vertebrates such as dinosaurs, birds and mammals.