Experimental investigation of mechanically laminated straight or curved-and-tapered bamboo-concrete T-beams

This study echoes the rising demand for bio-based material in concrete composite structures in the race to accelerate carbon neutrality in construction. Noticing that most previous studies are focused on straight timber or engineered bamboo-to-concrete composite beams, this study developed straight or curved-and-tapered mechanically laminated bamboo-concrete (LBC) T-beams. Six layers of 26 mm thick laminated bamboo panels were glue laminated together to form the bamboo beams. The curved bamboo beams have three different rises of arch: 50 mm, 100 mm and 150 mm. All specimen beams were tested by four-point bending tests to evaluate their structural performances of the curved and straight LBC T-beams. To monitor the flange-to-web interface shear transfer, a novel interface shear slip calibration method that captures the longitudinal after-slip strain redistribution was developed and validated by strain gauge measurements. This study also highlights the interlayer shear bonding strength of laminated bamboo as the thresholding parameter that determines the composite beams' overall flexural strength, evidenced by detailed failure mode analysis. The proposed interface shear slip calibration method can be extended to the other types of shear connectors such as screws, nails, shear plates and notched connections.