Abstract
Strength values of commercial-available thick-strip engineered bamboo boards with three batches of different standard thicknesses, 20, 30, and 40mm, used for glued laminated bamboo (glubam) structures, were obtained through tests. Experimental methods based on the geometrical characteristics of engineered bamboo panels are proposed in this research. The strength values of structural used engineered bamboo panels under various loading conditions were reported in terms of tension, compression, bending, and shear. The average stress-displacement curves of panels with different thicknesses are given and compared in this study. The k-sample Anderson-Darling (ADK) test was used to statistically analyze the thickness effect on the three batches of strength values, and test results indicated that three groups of data were drawn from different populations, the thickness has a significant effect on the material properties of bamboo panels. Based on the original test data obtained in this way, strength values and the corresponding coefficient of variance (COV) are calculated and compared. The probability plots of the strength values are given. The probability plots of the strength values indicate that the distribution of the strength values can be described as a normal distribution variable with a 75% level of accuracy. Based on such test information obtained through different small specimen numbers, ranging from 5 to 60, the characteristic strength values of the structure used bamboo panels are estimated according to the design-by-test approach. The compression performance and corresponding characteristic bearing capacity of cross-laminated-bamboo (CLB) based on the engineered bamboo boards are also studied in this research.