Effect of Steel Hose Clamp Stiffeners on the Load-Carrying Capacity of Bamboo Members

Abstract

The high strength of bamboo material cannot be fully utilized due to the failure of bamboo culm before reaching the ultimate strength values. This study focuses on the prevention of different failures caused due to shear, bearing (dowel embedment), and pull-out (tension) of bamboo culms. Bamboo culms are strengthened with hose clamps and adhesively bonded hose clamps, and the performance of the strengthened bamboo culms in terms of the load-carrying capacity and type of failure is evaluated. An experimental investigation was carried out on Bambusa balcooa bamboo species predominant in the Indian subcontinent, and a finite-element (FE) modeling procedure is presented for the same using ABAQUS software. It is found that hose clamps enhance the load-carrying capacity of bamboo culms by 10.19%, 32.57%, and 17.88% in shear, dowel bearing, and pull-out, respectively. Whereas, hose clamps that are adhesively bonded delayed splitting and increase the culm’s load-bearing capacity by 34.27%, 78.24%, and 51.08% in shear, dowel bearing, and pull-out, respectively, before failure. Using the validated FE models, a parametric study was carried out to study the influence of clamp thickness and clamp width on the load-carrying capacity and the failure modes of the specimens.