Compression behaviors of parallel bamboo strand lumber under static loading

Abstract

In order to investigate the influence of length and compression directions upon behaviour of parallel bamboo strand lumber (PBSL) specimens, 240 axial compression tests have been performed. With three similar one different typical failure modes, the mechanical performance for PBSL specimens under compression parallel to grain and perpendicular to grain are different as a whole. From the point of the characteristic values, the compression strength parallel to grain is 2.1 times of the compression strength perpendicular to grain. The elastic modulus for compression parallel to grain is 3.64 times of the compression strength perpendicular to grain. While the compression ratios along two compression directions are equal to each other. The bigger Poisson ratios for one typical side surface is 3.93 times of that for another typical side surface for PBSL specimens under compression perpendicular to grain, and the bigger value is equal to that for PBSL specimens under compression parallel to grain. Length can influence the mechanical properties of the PBSL specimens. The size 50 mm × 50 mm × 100 mm should be good choice for the standard or code to measure the compression strength. PBSL materials have better ductility under compression parallel to grain than that under compression perpendicular to grain. Stress-strain relationship models were proposed for PBSL specimens under compression parallel to grain and perpendicular to grain, respectively. These proposed models gave a good agreement with the test results.