Irrigation is limited by water scarcity. Here, we show how a drip irrigation system inspired by the leaf of the fig tree Ficus religiosa (also known as the bodhi tree) can improve irrigation efficiency. The reverse curvature of the leaf regulates the convergence process of multiple water streams, while its long-tail apex allows for fast water drainage with the droplet separation centroid beyond the leaf apex. We explain why drip frequency increases after the break-up of contact line pinning at the apex tip by using scaling laws for drip volume and analyzing drainage dynamics. We build a drip irrigation emitter inspired by the bodhi leaf apex and compare the germination efficiency of wheat, cotton, and maize under different irrigation modes. These results show that the proposed bodhi-leaf-apex-mimetic (BLAM) drip irrigation can improve water saving while ensuring germination and seedling growth.

A numerical simulation on the heat transport augmentation and flow drag behavior of spirally corrugated pipes was performed. The simulation was conducted on the basis of the experimental results documented in the published literature. The influence of the thread height and pitch on the hydraulic–thermal performance as well as the mechanism of the convection heat transport development inside the spirally corrugated pipe were explored. It was discovered that the convection heat transport performance elevates in the Reynolds number region of 4000~13,000 as the thread height rises or the Reynolds number enlarges, but it declines when the thread pitch extends. The convection heat transport performance marked by the Nusselt number of the spirally corrugated pipe could reach 2.77 times that of the plain pipe, while the flow resistance coefficients of spirally corrugated pipes are 89~324% above that of the plain pipe. It enlarges with the rise in thread height but declines with the extension of the thread pitch. It also reduces when the Reynolds number enlarges. The factors of overall heat transmission performance for all the spirally corrugated pipes are above 1.00, and they increase in the Reynolds number region of 4000~7000 and then decrease in the Reynolds number region of 7000 to 13,000. The secondary flow at the cross-sections and the vortex between two adjacent corrugated grooves are the basic causes of the promotion of convection heat transport inside the spirally corrugated pipes. The secondary flow near the pipe wall both disrupts the border layer and boosts the radial interfusion of the fluid. In addition, the existence of vortexes makes the secondary flow act on the convection heat transmission continuously and positively in the region close to the pipe wall.