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Abstract

This work is based in the methodology of structural biomechanics, and looks for the structural principles under the mechanical behavior of the petiole of Ravenala madagascariensis, with the aim of extract from

it feasible strategies for the enhancement of man-made materials design. This work included a complete characterization of the morphological and anatomical features, and of the mechanical properties of tissues under several types of mechanical loads. Besides, a model validation process, that relates the morphological and anatomical features with the mechanical properties of the tissues with the petiole overall mechanical behavior. The findings of this project allow concluding that plants combine shape, structure and materials in a hierarchical way at different scale levels to get a specifically mechanical response. In this plant, the main structural strategies identified were the use of tubular elliptical sections externally re inforced with fiber

bundles located in the periphery of cross-section, and internally filled with a porous core composed by a closed cell liquid pressurized foam-like tissue, in association with the use of highly anisotropic materials strategically distributed along the cross-section. This combination of mechanical design features generate that the differential mechanical behavior in bending and torsion needed to face the winds and natural pollinators, can be done without represent a danger of failure for the plant. The use of a very efficient and complex combination between shape and matter and a very interesting stress distribution over the cross-section under bending and torsion loads represent the most important findings of this research.