Bending tests of parallel strand bamboo-aluminum plate composite beams

In order to study the effect of different parameters on the flexural behavior of parallel strand bamboo(PSB)-aluminum plate composite beams, 12 PSB-aluminum plate composite beams under two-point symmetrical concentrated load were tested and compared with two pure PSB beams. The aluminum plate is combined with PSB through gluing and screw in the tension zone. And the research parameters include the thickness of aluminum plate (3 mm and 6 mm) and the cross-section forms of aluminum plate (I-shaped, U-shaped, and Serrated-shaped). The test results show that the failure of the PSB-aluminum composite beams is due to shear slip between layers and then bamboo fibers tend to fracture in the tension zone. At the same time, the stress concentration of the aluminum plate at the screw position leads to transverse through-seam, which results in the loss of load-bearing capacity of the specimens. The PSB beams strengthened with aluminum plate can effectively improve its load-bearing capacity, with an increase of 2.0%~13.5%. Based on the experiment, the bending bearing capacity of the specimens was analyzed theoretically, and the calculation method was proposed. The calculated results are in good agreement with the experimental results. © 2019, Editorial Office of Journal of Building Structures. All right reserved.