Experimental study on longitudinal embedding performance of bolted engineered bamboo connections

Abstract

This paper summarizes the experimental results of longitudinal embedding tests of bolted engineered bamboo connections. Six groups of bolted engineered bamboo connection specimens were prepared and tested monotonically up to failure. Test variables were bolt diameter and type of engineered bamboo: laminated bamboo or bamboo scrimber. Connection stiffness and embedding strength of the specimens of bamboo scrimber were greater than those of the specimens of the laminated bamboo – reflecting the difference in material density. Embedding strength of the laminated bamboo was insensitive to bolt diameter whereas embedding strength of the bamboo scrimber decreased with an increase of the bolt diameter. It was shown that in order to accurately model bolt embedding into bamboo, a foundation model is required. Reduction factors for strength and modulus for such a model were calibrated using experimental results. A parametric study addressing friction and foundation model size is presented.