Numerical Analysis of Bamboo and Laminated Bamboo Strip Lumber (LBSL)

Researcher: Wan Tarmeze Wan Ariffin Supervisors: Dr GH Little & Prof A H Chan March 2002-March 2005 Duration: Government of Malaysia Sponsor:

Background INBAR (the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan) in its recent publication (Ganapathy et.al 1999) reports that there have been not less than 28 types of bamboo composites lumber (BCL), also known as bamboo panel products, developed by researchers in China and in other bamboo growing countries such as India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam and Costa Rica. BCL have been successfully used as materials for furniture making and for non structural (non-load bearing) members in construction industries. Some have proven to be comparable if not better than wood in certain usages. For instance, the bamboo strip board (BSB), a strong and stiff material has already had an economic success in China for making platforms (floors) for transport vehicles such as trucks, buses and rail coaches, and for making concrete formworks (in building industries). Another well-known usage of BCL is in the flooring industry. Laminated bamboo floor board has been regarded as a high value flooring material with properties better than that of wood floor board. To date, bamboo composite has not yet been used as load bearing structural members, i.e., in the building industry. However, many bamboo scientists and engineers around the world are eyeing at this possibility as manifested in the works by Bai et al (1999), Janssen (1981), Lee et al (1996, 1998, 1997), Mansur (2000) and Nareswoho (2000). To use bamboo effectively in building industry also means to reduce the use of timber. This, in turn, will help the world lifting the burden on the environment due to excessive logging, especially of the diminishing tropical forests. With this aim, bamboo scientists and engineers are striving to generate deeper knowledge on bamboo and better technology of manufacturing bamboo composite beams. Statements of Research Problems Laminated bamboo floor board could be further developed into planks and beam (Laminated Bamboo Strip Lumber) for load bearing structural uses. The effects of bamboo material properties and arrangements (orientation) in the composite system on the strength and stiffness behaviour of the structural BCL have been studied through physical testings, but not fully discussed in engineering manner. Thus, the essence of this PhD work is to model the effects through engineering analytical tools (i.e., Finite Element Analysis). The parameters that affect the strength and stiffness of LBSL are: presence of voids glue imperfections orientation of bamboo material

Finite element models could be developed to study the effects of the parameters on the strength and stiffness of LBSL beams and bamboo reinforced timber beam, i.e., FE model of bamboo strip FE model of LBSL with different arrangement/orientation of bamboo material FE model of voids in the composite system FE model of non-glued surfaces in the composite system

and, in a case of shorter and deep LBSL beam,

FE model of shear failure

Furthermore, non-linear finite element analysis would also be included to study the plastic bending behaviour of bamboo strip and LBSL beam. Mechanical Properties of Bamboo Strip Knowledge on mechanical properties of bamboo in strip forms (strip or strand) is very important because LBSL contains bamboo in these forms. Studies on the anatomy of bamboo internode cross-section have revealed that the strength properties change (increase) from inner to outer layer of the culm.

Figure 1 Anatomical Features of Bamboo Internode

These microstructure features cause bamboo split to behave differently under different bending modes, i.e, a) with load on top of outer layer, b) on top of inner layer and c) on side.

Figure 2 Different Type of Loading for Bending Test

Thus, it is envisaged that orientation of bamboo strips in LBSL would affect the strength

behaviour of the bamboo composite. Numerical modelling on the strip would be used as a tool to study the effects.

Modelling of Bamboo Strip There are several approaches to model bamboo strips. 1) Morphological-Based In this approach, the parameters of the model are based on physical properties of the material's microstructure. In the case of bamboo strip, it could be modelled as orthotropic unidirectional fibrous material. This model would be useful in the analyses such as to determine strength, fracture toughness and fatigue life that require local stress-strain characteristic inputs.

Figure 3 Bamboo Strip as Orthotropic Unidirectional Fibrous Composite (Notes * = Amada et al 1996)

2) Laminated Composites The bamboo strip could also be modelled as a laminated composite with several unidirectional continuum layers each with unique mechanical properties.

Figure 4 Bamboo Strip as Multiple Continuum Layers This model would be appropriate to study the bending behaviour of bamboo strip subjected to different loading types and to explain the dissimilarity between the load-displacement curve characteristics. 3) 2-Layer Composite This is the simplified version of laminated model mentioned above. The bamboo strip is

composed of two layers of distinctive mechanical properties where the outer layer is much stronger than the inner layer.

Figure 5 Bamboo Strip as 2-Layer Composite This could be the most economical model for future numerical analysis of Laminated Bamboo Strip Lumber (LBSL) Numerical Works The aim of current numerical analysis is to produce load-displacement curves for bamboo strip subjected to simple bending load. The work started with the 2-layer composite model below.

Figure 6 Load and support arrangement (Dimensions in mm)

Cited Literatures 1) Amada, S., Munekata, T., Nagase, Y., Ichikawa, Y., Kirigai, A. and Zhifei, Y. 1996. The mechanical structures of bamboos in viewpoint of functionally gradient and composite materials. Journal of Composite Materials, Vol. 30, No. 7. Pp 800-819 2) Bai, X., A.W.C. Lee, L. L. Thompson, and D. V. Rosowsky. 1999. Finite element analysis of Moso bamboo-reinforced southern pine OSB composite beams. Wood and Fiber Science Vol. 31 No. 4. Pp 403-415. 3) Janssen, J. J. A. 1981. Bamboo in building structures. PhD Thesis. Eindhoven University of Technology. 238 pages. 4) Lee, A.W.C., X. Bai, and P. N. Peralta. 1996. Physical and mechanical properties of strandboard made from Moso bamboo. Forest Products Journal Vol. 46 No. 11/12. Pp 84-88. 5) Lee, A.W.C., X. Bai, and A. P. Bangi. 1997. Flexural properties of bamboo-reinforced southern pine OSB beam. Forest Products Journal Vol. 47 No. 6. Pp 74-78.

6) Lee, A.W.C., X. Bai, and A. P. Bangi. 1998. Selected properties of laboratory-made laminated-bamboo lumber. Holzforschung, Vol. 52, No. 2. Pp 207-210. 7) Ganapathy P. M., Zhu H., Zoolagood S. S., Turcke, D. & Espiloy, Z. B. 1999. Bamboo Panel Boards - a State of the Art Review. Technical Report No. 12. International Network of Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR), Beijing. 115 pages. 8) Mansur Ahmad. 2000. Analysis of Calcutta bamboo for structural composite materials. PhD Thesis. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. 210 pages. 9) Nareswoho Nugroho. 2000. Development of processing methods for bamboo composite materials and its structural performance. PhD Thesis. The University of Tokyo.