Abstract:
Construction industry predominantly uses a reinforced concrete (RC), has a significant influence
on global economic growth and environment. However, rising material cost, environmental
degradation and sustainability issues are main concern with increasing demand for affordable
housing now a days. Bamboo has become popular sustainable material because of its rapid growth
and excellent tensile strength. But existing literature primarily focuses on engineered bamboo and
knowledges on how to combine natural bamboo culm with other materials like concrete is still
scarce and needs to be explored. This study developed and investigated the potential of different
self-locking innovative shear connections through push-out and four-point bending experimental
tests in collaboration with Hasselt University, Belgium. Dry natural High land bamboo culm
(Oldeania Alpina) from Dawuro Zone, South-West Ethiopia and C25/30 concrete used with the
bamboo undergoing traditional smoking treatment. A total of 12 beams, each with a 2.5-meter
span, a width of 166 mm, and a depth of 160 mm, were tested along with their corresponding shear
connections. The results indicated that self-locking innovative shear connections have significant
potential to enhance mechanical properties of natural bamboo culm concrete composite beams
(BCC). In particular, the experimental results revealed that BCC beams exhibited up to a 128%
and 331% increase in both load carrying capacity and moment compared to control beams of only
bamboo and plain concrete beam of the same cross section. Notably beams with Partially Split
culm (PS) achieved a peak load of 29.66kN with a minimum deflection of 4.36 mm. The beam with
another connection types showed improvement in load-bearing capacity from 169% to 290% and
displayed gradual decline in capacity after peak load. The use of steel dowel bar highly improved
slip behavior, deflection, and overall BCC beams mechanical properties. Future research on
bamboo-concrete composites should examine durability under varied environmental conditions,
address moisture content issues, conduct detailed flexural analyses, and expand sample sizes to
improve understanding and applications in construction.
