Mechanical Properties of Bamboo And Their Use In Fishing Rods

Bamboo has historically been used in Japan as a structural material and for building tools such as fishing rods owing to its remarkable structural properties. In recent years, the materials used for manufacturing fishing rods have changed greatly owing to the development of composite materials; however, the basic slender tapered hollow cylindrical fishing rod design has remained unchanged throughout the long history of fishing. However, the mechanical rationale behind this structural design has not yet been sufficiently verified, and this study clarifies this. The analysis was performed by solving the nonlinear bending equation of a slender tapered cantilever beam with a concentrated load at the tip, which causes large deflection, using the Runge–Kutta method. The deflection curves and bending stresses were obtained, and the structural design to minimize the stresses was explored. Our results may prove useful for bamboo-inspired bionic design and bring to light our ancestors’ deep knowledge of natural materials and their advanced technological capabilities.

Axisymmetric nonlinear behavior of functionally graded saturated poroelastic circular plates under thermo-mechanical loading

In functionally graded saturated poroelastic circular plates with immovable simply supported and clamped rims, the axisymmetric nonlinear bending under transverse thermo-mechanical loading has been parametrically studied and compared with the axisymmetric postbuckling and nonlinear bending under thermal loading. Based on the classical plate theory, Love–Kirchhoff hypotheses and Sander’s assumptions, the general coupled nonlinear radial and transverse equilibrium equations, central continuity, symmetry and boundary conditions has been derived in ordinary and state-spatial forms. The corresponding difference equations have been achieved by using the generalized differential quadrature method. The equations have been assembled and numerically solved by using the Newton–Raphson iterative algorithm. The effects of the mechanical and thermal loads, pore distribution type, porosity parameter, Skempton’s coefficient, and thickness and boundary condition type on the behavior of the deflection, whether caused by thermo-mechanical bending, thermal postbuckling, or thermal bending, have been investigated in detail. From the parametric study, a novel quantity determining bending behavior has been found. The axisymmetric themo-mechanical nonlinear bending deflection is inversely and nonlinearly proportional to thermal load when the quantity is greater than a critical value and is nonlinearly proportional to thermal load when the quantity is less than a critical value. It was verified that the plate behavior complies with the general rules known for FG saturated poroelastic circular plates and with those known for metal–ceramic functionally graded circular plates whose governing equations are mathematically analogous to those of the current research.