The effect of axial flexibility on locomotor performance in Tyrannosaurus rex

Pasha A. van Bijlert, Knoek van Soest, Karl Bates, Anne Schulp

Research output: Contribution to conferenceAbstractAcademic

Abstract

Extinct theropods had a much higher moment of inertia in the sagittal plane than extant animals, resembling two cantilever beams suspended at the sacrum. This has many implications for elastic energy storage and locomotor stability, but there is no direct method to investigate them. Musculoskeletal modelling provides an opportunity to test hypotheses regarding the mechanics of dinosaur locomotion. This serves to both further our theoretical understanding of locomotion, while also providing a biomechanical context to the evolutionary success of non-avian theropods. To this end, we have developed a musculoskeletal model of an adult specimen of Tyrannosaurus rex (RGM.792000) in OpenSim. We have used direct collocation, a state-of-the-art mathematical approach, to generate walking and running gaits. The skeleton was reconstructed using high-resolution 3D surface scans. Body mass was estimated on a per-segment basis using convex hulls (total: 8531 kg), and locomotor musculature was informed by the literature and dissections. By using direct collocation, our model displays stable gait after optimization runs of ±20 minutes. This represents a drastic improvement over previous computational methods (3000 hours), allowing us to explore the behaviour at speeds ranging from 0.5 to 6.0 m/s. These results are preliminary, but the maximal speed is in agreement with earlier estimates. We expect that tail compliance served to reduce the metabolic cost of transport and limb bone stresses (thus increasing maximal speed) in large theropods. We are now combining this new reconstruction with a previously developed
compliant tail model to quantify these effects.
Original languageEnglish
Pages160
Number of pages1
Publication statusPublished - 2021
EventEAVP annual meeting 2021 - online
Duration: 6 Jul 20219 Jul 2021
http://vertpaleo.org

Conference

ConferenceEAVP annual meeting 2021
Period6/07/219/07/21
Internet address

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