Assessing the creep performance of full-scale bamboo scrimber columns

Bamboo scrimber is a kind of artificial processing material with high compressive strength, large size, natural texture, and wide application. It is made by rolling and de-fibering bamboo into a loose reticulate bundle, which is unbroken transversely, and loosely interlaced in the longitudinal direction, followed by drying, gluing, assembling, and hot pressing. In this study, to better understand the application value of bamboo scrimber in construction engineering, the performance of axially compressed solid columns that have been completed with three full-scale solid bamboo scrimber columns of 100 mm width, 100 mm height, and 2000 mm length were subjected to creep tests for 3 months. The specimens J1, J2, and J3 were designed to carry the long-term load of 0.2, 0.4, and 0.6 times the short-term test failure load of the same batch of specimens, respectively. The experimental study found that the bamboo scrimber columns could not bear 0.6 times of the short-term test failure load Pu, and that temperature and humidity greatly influenced creep of the specimens. Finally, a creep constitutive equation was established using a three-parameter model, and the equation matched well with the creep test data.