Dowel–bearing behavior of bamboo scrimber for bolted–type joint

Abstract

Dowel-bearing behavior is one of the key material characteristics in the design of laterally loaded joints with dowel-type fasteners and provides its strength and stability of structures. In this study, the dowel-bearing behavior of bolted joints on bamboo scrimber were investigated by analyzing the effect of specimen size, bolt diameter and loading direction on the dowel-bearing behavior. The estimation formulas of dowel-bearing strengths of bamboo scrimber for engineering utilization were developed based on conducting on 16-group experiments comprising a total of 80 half-hole samples. The results indicate that the initial stiffness was affected by the bolt diameter, sample thickness and loading direction. Dowel-bearing strength was only affected by bolt diameter and it decreased gradually with the increase in bolt diameter, irrespective of specimen sizes and loading direction. The failure mechanisms of the samples loaded in parallel- and perpendicular-to-grain were completely different. The existing empirical expressions was suitable for bamboo scrimber loaded in parallel-to-grain when larger bolts were used, but can under-estimate the dowel-bearing strengths in perpendicular-to-grain direction. Finally, semi-empirical regression-based formulas as functions of compressive strength and bolt diameter were proposed, which exhibited good agreement with the experimental dowel-bearing strength. The findings will be useful for designing safe and efficient bolted joints to promote more widespread use of bamboo scrimber in construction, as well as supplying basic data for systematic development of test and design standards for bamboo structures.