Research advances in bio-inspired geotechnics

Many biological organisms use morphologically, behaviourally and schematically the unique strategies to interact with soils and rocks, and perform functions such as moving in soils, growing in soils, anchoring, and assimilating nutriment. For the bio-inspired geotechnics, these biological strategies are investigated and used to develop new theories and technologies in geotechnical engineering. In recent years, the bio-inspired geotechnics have gradually become an interesting topic in the geotechnical research community. The research methodologies and tools for the bio-inspired geotechnics are introduced. The research advances in different biological strategies and their potential application fields are introduced and analyzed, such as exactions and penetrations of biological organisms in soils, friction behaviour between soils and biological organisms, and biological anchorage mechanisms, etc. The opportunities and challenges in the bio-inspired geotechnics are also discussed.