Axial compression behaviour of bamboo-wood composite columns fabricated with glubam and laminated veneer lumber

Both wood and bamboo are natural green biomaterials with a long application history in human society. A novel bamboo-wood composite fabricated with glued laminated bamboo (glubam) and laminated veneer lumber (LVL) was developed to reduce wood resource demand and to promote bamboo utilization efficiency. Experimental and analytical investigations were conducted to study the mechanical performance of 36 bamboo-wood composite columns with different slenderness ratios under axial compression. The three-layer composite column was composed of glubam as outer layers and LVL as a core layer, with horizontal or vertical configurations respectively. The failure modes, ultimate capacity, load and deformation behaviour were evaluated. Strength failure was the typical failure mode of the short columns while buckling was commonly observed for the longer columns. Columns with vertical LVL core had overall better performed with higher compressive strength than the ones with horizontal LVL core configuration. The ultimate load of the composite columns with thin-strip glubam as outer layers were increased by 31.6 % to 45.3 % than those of thick-strip glubam as outer layers. The compressive capacity of the specimens predicted according to three standards were compared with the experimental results. An improved expression considers the material strength and column slenderness ratio was proposed, which provides a better prediction than the current design standards.