Investigating the Fracture Mechanisms Arising From the Inhomogeneous Shrinkage Behavior in the Anisotropic Structure of Natural Bamboo via Experimental and Numerical Methods

Abstract

The integration of natural materials in modern designs, architecture and infrastructure is essential to enhance the standard of living, to improve aesthetic attributes and most importantly to address the issues of global crises faced in our modern times such as climate change. Modern solution is calling for alternative materials and the consideration of natural materials may provide a wide range of benefits ranging from being sustainable to having a low carbon offset. On the downside, natural materials made of organic structure, are vulnerable to diverse number of naturally occurring or externally induced factors which can affect their rate of degradation. This study was mainly focused on one aspect of degradation based on abiotic factors which affected the durability of bamboo-based natural materials. The study probed into the mechanisms prevailing between the interlaminar layers of bamboo anisotropic structure which resulted in random crack propagation during shrinkage of the material thereby greatly affecting their durability. To achieve the aim of this study, experimental investigation was conducted in the first place on thermally modified bamboo specimens to reveal their shrinkage behavior with respect to the anisotropic nature of the material. In second instance, numerical modeling via the Finite Element Method (FEM) was conducted to further ascertain the findings observed in the experimental study. The FEM software of LS-DYNA was considered for that purpose and the fringe plot of XY displacement was selected to assess the zone in the material most susceptible to crack initiation and propagation. The findings of this study will have a notable significance as it will shed further light on one of the main limitations of a natural material like bamboo. The established methodology and findings could also be considered to further modify the material for improved durability in modern designs and applications.