ANALYSIS OF BAMBOO AS A FUNCTIONALLY GRADED MATERIAL

Bamboo is an optimized natural composite that exploits the concept of Functionally Graded Material (FGM). Biological structures such as bamboo have complicated micro-structural shapes and material distribution, and thus the use of numerical methods such as finite element method can be a useful tool for understanding the mechanical behavior of these materials. This article explores techniques such as finite element method to investigate the structural behavior of bamboo. Two-dimensional models of bamboo cells were built and simulated under tensile load, compression load and bending load cases, using ANSYS 12.1 version with two material options, one with isotropic material properties (averaged Young's modulus) and the second with FGM properties (spatially varying Young's modulus). In this study, the stress obtained from FGM model are much higher than those obtained from Isotropic material model and the maximum stresses are noted at the outer diameter. This is due to the fact that the higher stiffness of that fiber-dense region and also the stress redistribution through the bamboo wall.