Experimental Research on Mechanical Properties of Sandwich Wall Panels with Bamboo Shear Connection

Sandwich wall panels are often used as non-bearing structure and just need to bear lateral wind load. Steel truss is normally used as the shear connectors in the wall panels. Traditional steel connectors are poor thermal insulators and heat is easily been transfer through them. As a result, they lead to enormous energy lose. In order to improve the energy efficiency, composite bamboo connectors, which are ideal thermal insulators, are used to replace steel ones. In this experiment, three full-size models of composite sandwich wall panels were built and their displacement, surface strain, crack load, as well as ultimate strength were determined. Experimental results shows that wall panels with bamboo connection has a relatively better mechanical property than traditional ones.