Mechanical Properties and Strength Grading of Engineered Bamboo Composites in China

Engineered bamboo composite (EBC) is a new high-strength anisotropic structural material, which has standardized sections and less inherent variability than the natural material. For safety reasons in structural applications, the characteristic values of mechanical behaviors are needed to build the design values utilized in practical application. Recent research studies on EBC focused on the mechanical properties from a single source, with little research on the sampling of the manufacturers. The present work investigates mechanical properties of two types of commercially available EBC—parallel strand bamboo (PSB) and laminated veneer bamboo (LVB). The main aim of this work is to evaluate the best probability distribution model (normal, lognormal, and Weibull) and mechanical properties for EBC in China and determine the characteristic values indicated by ASTM D2915. The mechanical properties in tensile, compression, and shear were evaluated using about 4300 small clear specimens from seven manufacturers in five raw bamboo origins of China. Based on the confidence band method, the strength grading of EBC subjected to compressive strength was developed with two predictors (density and MOE). By using intervals of each predictor, several strength grades were built. Each grade has the mean compressive strength, 5th percentile lower value (R0.05), and characteristic value (Rk), which could be used in structural design. This research contributes to the establishment of EBC standards and is essential for further accepting these materials in structural engineering.