BBC: The unexpected inspiration behind Japan's bullet train

Dr. Eiji Nakatsu next to 500 Series Shinkansen train

Who would you have guessed that the design of an electric passenger train had been influenced by animal biology?

Biomimicry is a branch of science that looks to leverage the results of 3.8 billion years of evolution to solve engineering problems. It asks the question WWND — What Would Nature Do? The theory and practice are used to apply what we can learn from nature to the designs of engineered items.

The Shinkansen Electro Multiple Unit (EMU) train is part of a Japanese railway system that transports 40% of all railway passengers of the world — that's about 64 million people every day. The design of the train started in 1989 with a target date of 1994. The goal was to allow passengers to travel from Shin-Osaka to Hakata in about 2 hours and 20 minutes which would require speeds of 350 kph. Challenges of such a high-speed requirement included noise, vibration, and pressure waves occurring when the train passed through a tunnel.

Years ago I had the pleasure of attending a presentation by Dr. Eiji Nakatsu in the Autodesk Gallery. Dr. Nakatsu is the former Director of Technical Development and Test Operation Department of JR-West — the organization that created the railway system. He described how several engineering problems were resolved using biomimicry.

Problem	Animal	Characteristic	Application
The pantograph, a piece that connects the train to its power source, vibrated and made a loud noise.		The owl has a concave face capable of absorbing sound. Its body has ample down to absorb fluttering sounds. Tiny serrations on its primary feathers minimize the vortex generated by movement.	The pantograph was reshaped like an owl's wing, including small serrations, which resulted in no vibrations and a quieter impact for residents near the tracks.
The supporting frame for the pantograph had a high degree of wind resistance resulting in aerodynamic noise.		The body of the Adelie Penguin is shaped like a spindle that allows it to move effortlessly through water to catch fish.	The pantograph's supporting shaft was reshaped like a penguin's body to lower its wind resistance.
When the train would enter a tunnel, a loud bang would occur due to the fixed air volume of the tunnel and the sudden increase in pressure from the entering train.		The shape of the Kingfisher's head and beak allow it to glide through the air and precisely dive into water to snag fish. It is the most efficient animal on earth to transition from low pressure (air) to high pressure (water).	The nose of the Shinkansen train was reshaped in the form of the Kingfisher's beak to eliminate the sudden pressure increase. No more bang.

You can see the effects that biomimicry had on the design process.

Design	Before	After
Pantograph Wing
Pantograph Base
Train Nose		image source: kyotostation.com

Each year ~7,000 people in Japan die as the result of auto accidents. The Shinkansen train is estimated to have saved ~1,800 lives per year by replacing personal travel with mass transit. Railway travel also produces the lowest amount of greenhouse gases per passenger compared to travel by automobile, airplane, or bus.

On March 30, 2019, the BBC created a minute-and-a-half video that succinctly tells the story of the unexpected inspiration behind Japan's bullet train and how its nose was reshaped after the beak of the Kingfisher:

Visit the BBC site to view the 1-minute 21-second video.

Autodesk has always been an automation company. Today, more than ever, that means helping our customers automate their design and make processes. We help them embrace the future of making, where they can do more (e.g., efficiency, performance, quality), with less (e.g., energy, raw materials, timeframes, waste of human potential), and realize the opportunity for better (e.g., innovation, user experience, return on investment). Biomimicry is one of the ways Autodesk customers can seize the opportunity for better.

Animal magnetism is alive in the lab.