Experiments into the constitutive behaviour of sugarcane billets

Experiments to investigate the behaviour of sugarcane billets under a variety of loading scenarios are presented. The aim of these experiments were, firstly, to obtain values of some fundamental properties of billets such as their gross elastic properties, and secondly, to identify experiments and suitable models to describe billet behaviour, in particular, the failure mechanisms. Experiments into the elastic properties of sugarcane billets show they exhibit markedly different responses in the axial and transverse direction, a phenomenon observed in other natural materials such as timber. These responses are confounded by the history-dependent (visco-elastic) nature of sugarcane and estimates of its effect are made. Experiments into the failure of sugarcane billets were also conducted. The tensile strengths of the pith and rind were estimated. Experiments to measure the fracture properties in the transverse direction were not successful. However, experiments to measure the fracture (mode I and II) properties in the axial direction were conducted.