Abstract
This study conducted quasistatic three-point bending tests to investigate the effect of bamboo node on the energy absorption, bending, and deformation characteristics of bamboo. Results showed that the node had a reinforcing effect on the energy absorption and bending strength of the bamboo culm subjected to bending load. The experimental results demonstrated that nodal samples (NS) significantly outperform internodal samples without node (INS). Under the three-point bending load, the main failure mode of bamboo is the fracture failure. The node also showed split and fracture prevention function obviously. Based on that, a series of bionic bumper beams were designed inspired by the bamboo node. The FEM results indicated that the performance of bionic bumpers was better than that of a normal bumper with regard to bending strength, energy absorption, and being lightweight. In particular, the bionic bumper beam has the best performance with regard to bending, energy absorption, and being lightweight compared with the normal bumper under pole impact. The characteristic of the bionic bumper beam is higher than that of the normal bumper beam by 12.3% for bending strength, 36.9% for EA, and 31.4% for SEA; moreover, there was a mass reduction of 4.9%, which still needs further optimization.
Highlights
Structures in nature have evolved to fit their environment after millions of years of evolution
The results show that the energy absorption of nodal samples is greater than that of the internode samples
After finite-element analysis, the results show that the loadbearing capacity of a bionic shell increased by 124.8%
Summary
Structures in nature have evolved to fit their environment after millions of years of evolution. Bamboo is a kind of biological structure reinforced by nodes [1]. The hollow structure and nodes play an important role in allowing the plant to achieve optimal stiffness and stability with the least material [2]. The bamboo node is crucial to improve stiffness and stability of the slender bamboo culm during growth [3]. Previous researchers have discussed that these nodes have a mechanical function, improving the stiffness and strength of the culm. Shao et al [4,5,6] proposed that bamboo nodes were crucial to improve stiffness and stability of the slender bamboo culm during growth. Meng et al [8] studied the energy absorption characteristics and material parameters of the bamboo species by drop-weight and dynamic tensile tests. The results show that the energy absorption of nodal samples is greater than that of the internode samples
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