No abstract

No abstract

Bamboo scrimber is a versatile material made by rolling and defibering bamboo into loose reticulate bundles (unbroken horizontally, loose longitudinally, and interlaced) that are subjected to drying, gluing, assembling, and hot pressing. In this study, to better understand the application value of bamboo scrimber in construction engineering, the axial compression properties of bamboo scrimber columns with solid, hollow, and I-shaped cross-sections were investigated. For each column type, three lengths of 1 m, 1.5 m, and 2 m (three specimens of each length) were selected and subjected to axial compression testing. The results demonstrated that the primary failure mode of solid bamboo scrimber columns was instability failure, whereas that of hollow and I-shaped columns was mainly debonding failure. Experimental data were further analyzed to better understand and model the failure mechanisms of bamboo scrimber columns. This study led to the establishment of a design formula for bamboo scrimber solid columns, the calculations of which matched well with the experimental results.

Bamboo scrimber is a kind of artificial processing material with high compressive strength, large size, natural texture, and wide application. It is made by rolling and de-fibering bamboo into a loose reticulate bundle, which is unbroken transversely, and loosely interlaced in the longitudinal direction, followed by drying, gluing, assembling, and hot pressing. In this study, to better understand the application value of bamboo scrimber in construction engineering, the performance of axially compressed solid columns that have been completed with three full-scale solid bamboo scrimber columns of 100 mm width, 100 mm height, and 2000 mm length were subjected to creep tests for 3 months. The specimens J1, J2, and J3 were designed to carry the long-term load of 0.2, 0.4, and 0.6 times the short-term test failure load of the same batch of specimens, respectively. The experimental study found that the bamboo scrimber columns could not bear 0.6 times of the short-term test failure load Pu, and that temperature and humidity greatly influenced creep of the specimens. Finally, a creep constitutive equation was established using a three-parameter model, and the equation matched well with the creep test data.

Fracture is a common failure form of poplar laminated veneer lumber (LVL). In the present work, we performed an experimental study on the mode-I along-grain interlaminar fracture, mode-I cross-grain interlaminar fracture, and mode-II interlaminar fracture of poplar LVL. We investigated stress mechanisms, failure modes, and fracture toughness values of the different fracture types. The experimental results revealed that the crack in the mode-I along-grain interlaminar fracture specimen propagated along the prefabricated crack direction, and the crack tip broke. The mode-I cross-grain interlaminar fracture specimen had cracks in the vertical direction near the prefabricated crack. In the mode-II interlaminar fracture specimen, cracks appeared along the initial prefabricated crack direction. The load-displacement curves of these three specimens were linear in the early stage of loading. With the increase in the load, a nonlinear segment appeared before crack propagation and a descending segment appeared after crack propagation. The nonlinear segments of the mode-I along-grain interlaminar fracture and mode-II interlaminar fracture were very short, and cracks expanded quickly after their initiation, resulting in brittle fracture. The nonlinear segment of the mode-I cross-grain interlaminar fracture was long, resulting in plastic failure. The average toughness values of the mode-I along-grain interlaminar fracture, mode-I cross-grain interlaminar fracture, and mode-II interlaminar fracture were 15.43, 270.15, and 39.72 MPa•mm 1/2 , respectively.