Load and resistance factor design for bamboo reinforced concrete beam in ultimate flexural limit state

Abstract

Building sustainable infrastructure brings back the idea of using environmentally friendly materials, such as bamboo, for reinforcing concrete structures. However, a design framework for bamboo reinforced concrete (BRC) structures is still in its early stages due to the inherent uncertainties in the properties of bamboo. The present work focuses on developing a load and resistance factor design (LRFD) framework for BRC beams subjected to flexure. Before developing the design framework, the major variables affecting the behaviour of BRC beams are identified — the tensile properties of bamboo, the compressive properties of concrete, the bond strength between them, and the load. BRC beams, with various reinforcement percentages, are investigated through real-life experiments and finite element (FE) based numerical experiments. We show that the FE models provide good agreement with the real-life experiments if the major variables are chosen as per their descriptive statistics. The FE model is used to generate a synthetic dataset, using which Monte Carlo simulations are performed. The BRC beam is assumed to be governed by the limit state of collapse in flexure. The partial safety factors for bamboo with different dead and live load combinations are calibrated to different target reliability. Designers can make use of the proposed partial safety factors for designing BRC flexural members.