Characterization of splitting behavior of bamboo culms

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.