In nature, bamboo develops an excellent structure to bear nature forces, and it is very helpful for designing thin-walled cylindrical shells with high load-bearing efficiency. In this article, the cross-section of bamboo is investigated, and the feature of the gradual distribution of vascular bundles in bamboo cross-section is outlined. Based on that, a structural bionic design for thin-walled cylindrical shells is presented, of which the manufacturability is also taken into consideration. The comparison between the bionic thin-walled cylindrical shell and a simple hollow one with the same weight showed that the load-bearing efficiency was improved by 44.7 per cent.
