Snake can perfectly utilize its scales to move. Inspired by the snake scales, this study investigated the characteristics of the snake skin-inspired pile penetration process. Six kinds of pile shaft inspired by snakeskin and one normal pile as reference were designed. In order to investigate the influence of scale layouts on the pile and particle responses, the discrete element method was adopted to simulate the process of pile penetration numerically. Effects of three potentially relevant factors, including the scale height, scale length and penetration direction were analyzed. According to the computed results, the snake skin-inspired pile has a greater shaft resistance, causes obvious soil disturbance with aspect to soil displacement and particle rotation compared with the reference pile. The shaft resistance and soil disturbance are positively correlated with the scale height, and inversely relevant with the scale length. The inspired pile installed in cranial direction causes a wider disturbance range in surrounding soil compared with the caudal installation. The cranial penetrated pile contributes to significant soil dilatancy, leading to greater loading–unloading behavior and less major principal stress rotation of surrounding soil.

蛇可以完美地利用其秤移动。受蛇鳞的启发，本研究调查了蛇皮启发性桩穿透过程的特征。设计了六种受蛇皮启发的桩身和一根普通桩作为参考。为了研究尺度分布对桩和颗粒响应的影响，采用离散元法对桩的穿透过程进行了数值模拟。分析了三个潜在相关因素的影响，包括水垢高度，水垢长度和穿透方向。根据计算结果，与参考桩相比，蛇皮启发桩具有更大的竖井阻力，在土壤位移和颗粒旋转方面会引起明显的土壤扰动。轴阻力和土壤扰动与标尺高度正相关，与标尺长度负相关。与尾部安装相比，沿颅骨方向安装的启发性桩对周围土壤的干扰范围更广。颅桩穿透导致明显的土壤膨胀，导致更大的装卸行为和周围土壤的主要主应力旋转减少。