Abstract
Bamboo is a remarkably strong and sustainable material available for construction. It exhibits optimized mechanical characteristics based on a hollow-inhomogeneous structure which also affects its fracture behavior. In this study, the aim is to investigate the effect of material composition and geometrical attributes on the fracture mechanisms of bamboo in various modes of loading by the finite element method. In the first part of the investigation, the optimized transverse isotropy of bamboo to resist transverse deformation was numerically determined to represent its noticeable orthotropic characteristics which prevail in the axial direction. In the second part of this study, a numerical investigation of fracture mechanisms in four fundamental modes of loading, namely bending, compression, torsion, and shear, were conducted by considering the failure criterion of maximum principal strain. A crack initiation stage was simulated and compared by implementing an element erosion technique. Results showed that the characteristics of bamboo’s crack initiation differed greatly from solid geometry and homogeneous material-type models. Splitting patterns, which were discerned in bending and shear modes, differed in terms of location and occurred in the outside-center position and inside-lowermost position of the culm, respectively. The results of this study can be useful in order to achieve optimized strength in bamboo-inspired bionic designs.
Highlights
IntroductionBamboo has been utilized as a prominent construction material in buildings for centuries
Bamboo has been utilized as a prominent construction material in buildings for centuries.Recent trends in using sustainable material for building development is reigniting the interest in natural construction materials
The fracture mechanisms of bamboo were investigated by finite variability element method (FEM) by considering the noticeable orthotropic characteristics which prevail in its axial direction
Summary
Bamboo has been utilized as a prominent construction material in buildings for centuries. Recent trends in using sustainable material for building development is reigniting the interest in natural construction materials. Bamboo can be used as a reliable and sustainable alternative to conventional materials in construction based on two key attributes—namely, a high strength-to-weight ratio, and an unrivalled growth rate of up to 100 cm per day [1,2,3]. Bamboo morphology has developed into a of smart hollow structure consisting of nodes and internodes which provide the structural framework to support the weight of its uppermost section. It inherits a high strength-to-weight ratio from a hierarchically arranged microstructure composed of concentrated fibers known as a vascular bundle. The volume fraction of vascular bundles increases with height to compensate for the inferior strength
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