Characterization of Splitting Behavior of Bamboo Culms
This article has been corrected.
VIEW CORRECTIONPublication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 22, Issue 11
Abstract
Bamboo is viewed as a sustainable and highly renewable material that may be grown in any temperate climate zone. Interest in the engineering properties of bamboo and the use of bamboo in engineered construction is growing. Although often having superior mechanical properties than readily available sawn timber, bamboo, being largely an unidirectional fibrous material, is very susceptible to longitudinal splitting. Despite being the dominant limit state in many applications, very little previous work has addressed the characterization of bamboo splitting failure. The present research focuses on the development of a split pin test method for characterizing the splitting strength of bamboo culms. The proposed split pin test uses a full culm section test, thereby eliminating some of the complexities of partial culm tests. Results of a pilot study of the split pin test having similar specimens with different split pin diameters yielded consistent results and variations less than that of the previously standardized direct shear test. In order to demonstrate the validity of the proposed test method, a series of tests was performed on samples of Tre Gai (Bambusa stenostachya Hackel) bamboo.
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Acknowledgments
The writers recognize the support of the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation and the University Honors College, both at the University of Pittsburgh. The contributions of Dr. Ian Robertson of the University of Hawaii, Ms. Gayatri Kharel, an engineering consultant in Kalimpong, India, and Dr. Khosrow Ghavami at PUC-Rio are gratefully acknowledged. The writers also wish to acknowledge the cooperation of St. Joseph’s School at Northpoint, Darjeeling, India.
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© 2010 ASCE.
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Accepted: Apr 9, 2009
Received: Dec 29, 2009
Published online: May 8, 2010
Published in print: Nov 2010
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