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Title: Modeling Bamboo as a Functionally Graded Material

Journal Article · · AIP Conference Proceedings
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2896876· OSTI ID:21055276
 [1]; ;  [2]
  1. Department of Mechatronics and Mechanical Systems, Escola Politecnica da Universidade de Sao Paulo, Av. Professor Mello Moraes, 2231, Sao Paulo, SP, 05508-900 (Brazil)
  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 205 North Mathews Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801 (United States)

Natural fibers are promising for engineering applications due to their low cost. They are abundantly available in tropical and subtropical regions of the world, and they can be employed as construction materials. Among natural fibers, bamboo has been widely used for housing construction around the world. Bamboo is an optimized composite material which exploits the concept of Functionally Graded Material (FGM). Biological structures, such as bamboo, are composite materials that have complicated shapes and material distribution inside their domain, and thus the use of numerical methods such as the finite element method and multiscale methods such as homogenization, can help to further understanding of the mechanical behavior of these materials. The objective of this work is to explore techniques such as the finite element method and homogenization to investigate the structural behavior of bamboo. The finite element formulation uses graded finite elements to capture the varying material distribution through the bamboo wall. To observe bamboo behavior under applied loads, simulations are conducted considering a spatially-varying Young's modulus, an averaged Young's modulus, and orthotropic constitutive properties obtained from homogenization theory. The homogenization procedure uses effective, axisymmetric properties estimated from the spatially-varying bamboo composite. Three-dimensional models of bamboo cells were built and simulated under tension, torsion, and bending load cases.

OSTI ID:
21055276
Journal Information:
AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 973, Issue 1; Conference: M and FGM 2006: Conference on multiscale and funtionally graded materials 2006, Oahu Island, HI (United States), 15-18 Oct 2006; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2896876; (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English