Finite Element Analysis of Beams Reinforced with Banana Fiber Bars (BFB)

One of the challenges of the century is to reach compatibility between the required resistance and the usage of lightweight building materials that may negatively affect the mechanical properties. Natural fibers nowadays are used as enhancers in the industrial field. Hence, the fibers contribute by giving an ideal solution to improve mechanical proprieties of the structural elements such as tensile and impact strength. In previous studies, the use of natural fibers as reinforcement in construction materials has increased. Natural fibers have a lot of characteristics such as being strong, lightweight, inexpensive, and eco-friendly. This paper aims to investigate the performance of banana fiber bars (BFB) as reinforced material. Through this study, the development and characterization of natural fibers-based composite beams were observed. After the beams were designed, several types of finite element analysis were conducted using ‘ANSYS’ nonlinear finite element program under one-point loading. Results show good correlations between experimental and predicted results.