Modelling full-culm bamboo as a naturally varying functionally graded material

The mechanical behaviour of bamboo is greatly influenced by its transverse properties, which are not easily measured by experiment. This study develops a framework and the computational tools required to evaluate the material and mechanical properties of bamboo in its full-culm form. A numerical model of bamboo as a transversely isotropic material with functionally graded material properties in the radial direction is developed. The random field method was introduced as a means of quantifying the measured uncertainty of bamboo with respect to the mechanical characterisation of its full-culm state. Four increasingly complex approaches to model circumferential compression tests of bamboo are presented: a theoretical evaluation using Castigliano’s theorem; an orthotropic model neglecting the graded nature of the culm wall; and, two models—one discrete and one continuum-based that define a transversely isotropic graded material. Output from each model is compared, calibrated and validated with experimental results. While the models developed were robust, their application has drawn into question the fundamental hypothesis that the functionally graded behaviour of bamboo can be captured using the rule of mixtures.