ADVANCED

Original Research Article

COMPOSITES LETTERS

Advanced Composites Letters

Volume 28: 1–13
ª The Author(s) 2019
Experimental study on the mechanical Article reuse guidelines:
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behavior of BFRP-bamboo DOI: 10.1177/0963693519867335
journals.sagepub.com/home/acm

composite beam

Qingfang Lv and Ye Liu

Abstract
This article proposes a basalt fiber-reinforced plastic–bamboo (BFRP-bamboo) composite beam consisting of BFRP sheet
and laminated bamboo, aiming at fully utilizing advantages of bamboo and BFRP to improve the mechanical behavior of the
laminated bamboo beam. A two-step test program is involved: (1) double shear test for bonding behavior between the
BFRP and laminated bamboo and (2) loading test for mechanical behaviors of both laminated bamboo and BFRP-bamboo
composite beams. Parameters affecting the bonding behavior are firstly concluded as the coated surface resin, types of
bonding materials, and interfacial treatment. Then, the failure patterns of both laminated bamboo and BFRP-bamboo
composite beam are discussed based on experimental observations. Key mechanical indexes, including the yield force,
yield displacement, ultimate load, ultimate displacement, ductility, and stiffness, are analyzed based on load–displacement
curves of tested specimens. Besides, theoretical analyses of bearing capacity of the BFRP-bamboo composite beam,
featured as fracture failure, are conducted.

Keywords
laminated bamboo, basalt fiber-reinforced plastic, failure pattern, mechanical behavior, composite

Introduction To utilize the advantages of the raw bamboo and

improve its material stability and performance, the modern
Bamboo, as a conventional structural material,1 has always
bamboo structure11,12 has been developed based on new
been utilized in building local houses in China.2 It is con-
bamboo engineering materials, modern production, and
venient to obtain raw bamboo material locally, which has
building methods during recent years. Kinds of bamboo
advantages including saving costs, environmental friendli-
engineering material have been proposed and studied,
ness, and recyclability.3–5 However, the mechanical prop-
which is beneficial to reduce the material discreteness and
erties of the raw and unprocessed bamboo material are in
enlarge practical applications of the bamboo.13 By recom-
large discreteness.6 Many inevitable defects can also be
bining and recomposing the raw bamboo material, types of
found in unprocessed bamboo material, which results in a
bamboo engineering material can be achieved, which are
poor durability.7–9 Several key points are summarized for
featured as bamboo plywood,14–16 laminated bamboo,17,18
the structure using the unprocessed bamboo: (1) the struc-
and reconstituted bamboo.19,20 The existing researches
ture built with unprocessed bamboo are commonly low-
tech with large material variation10; (2) the dimensions and
types of the raw bamboo are limited, which largely restricts
its development in structure; and (3) the function of the heat Key Laboratory of Concrete and Prestressed Concrete Structures of the
preservation and insulation is unsatisfactory because of the Ministry of Education, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
gaps existing between the unprocessed bamboo. It is obvi- Date received: 12 December 2018; accepted: 9 July 2019
ous that the modern processing methods are of important
Corresponding author:
necessity to be adopted to improve the mechanical perfor- Ye Liu, Key Laboratory of Concrete and Prestressed Concrete Structures
mances of the raw bamboo to satisfy requirements of mod- of the Ministry of Education, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China.
ern structures. Email: 459912879@qq.com

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2 Advanced Composites Letters
showed that the bearing capacity, stiffness, ductility, and
fatigue performance of the bamboo engineering materials
are required to be further improved. In the serviceability
limit state, the bearing capacities of the bamboo engineer-
ing materials are usually controlled by the stiffness not
strength, which demonstrates a low material utilization
ratio and restricts the structural applications of the bamboo
engineering material.
To compensate for shortcomings of the single material,
different types of materials can be combined together to
achieve acceptable performance. In wooden structures, the
carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP)21,22 and glass FRP23
have been adopted to strengthen the wood beam. Further-
more, Wei et al.24 studied a new type of bamboo scrimber
which were strengthened by the FRP sheets embedded in
the internal tensile region. Inspired by the researches on
FRP strengthened wood/bamboo structures, this article pro-
poses a basalt FRP-bamboo (BFRP-bamboo) composite
beam consisting of BFRP sheet and laminated bamboo
beam, which aims at improving the mechanical behavior
of the laminated bamboo beam. In the proposed BFRP-
bamboo composite beam, the BFRP sheet is externally
bonded at the bottom of the bamboo beam. To have a
deeper understanding of the proposed BFRP-bamboo com-
posite beam, a series tests were conducted which contains
tests on the bonding behavior between the BFRP and lami-
nated bamboo, mechanical behaviors of the laminated bam-
boo beam, and the BFRP-bamboo composite beam. Based
on the strain distribution and the force equilibrium, the
theoretical derivations related to the flexural strength was
carried out, the accuracy of which was also confirmed.
Preliminary tests on bonding
behavior between BFRP sheet
and laminated bamboo
Material test
A series of material coupon tests were conducted to study
the basic material behaviors of the laminated bamboo and
the BFRP sheet. Based on the material test results, the
following expressions were proposed for the laminated
bamboo.
sc ¼ Ec ec 0  ec  ee ð1Þ
 2
ec ec
sc ¼ 0:62 sp þ 1:1 sp þ 0:53sp ee  ec  ecu
ep ep
ð2Þ
s t ¼ E t et 0  et  etu ð3Þ
where sc and st are the compressive and tensile stresses,
respectively; ec and et are the compressive and tensile
strains, respectively; Ec and Et are the elastic compressive
and tensile moduli, respectively; ee equal to 0.3ep is the yield
compressive strain; ecu equal to 1.3ep is the ultimate
compressive strain; sp is the maximum compressive stress
and ep is the corresponding strain at sp; and etu is the ultimate
tensile strain. The ultimate tensile and compressive stresses
of the laminated bamboo are 129.05 and 98.18 MPa, respec-
tively. The elastic modulus and ultimate tensile strain of the
laminated bamboo are 13294 MPa and 1.05%, respectively.
Besides, based on the coupon test on BFRP sheet, the
ultimate tensile stress and the elastic modulus of the BFRP
sheet are 1752.4 and 73,871.3 MPa, respectively. The ulti-
mate tensile strain of the BFRP sheet is 2.37%.
Parameters’ selection
The good bond behavior between the BFRP sheet and lami-
nated bamboo is essential in guaranteeing the mutual work,
which aims at fully utilizing material advantages of both
BFRP and laminated bamboo.
Until now, no tests have been conducted to investigate
the BFRP-bamboo bond behavior; and therefore, it is of
necessary to carry out preliminary tests to have a deep
understanding of BFRP-bamboo bonding behavior. The
bonding material aims at forming an effective and stable
BFRP-bamboo interface to transfer shear and normal forces
between the BFRP sheet and laminated bamboo, the quality
of which decides the working performance of the BFRP-
bamboo composite beam. In the reinforcement of concrete
structure using FRP, one layer of resin is usually coated to
the concrete surface to help achieve better bonding. How-
ever, the laminated bamboo employed in this article,
featured as high compactness, was fabricated under hot-
pressing consolidation process, which made it difficult for
the resin to permeate into the laminated bamboo. The effect
of the coated resin on the BFRP-bamboo bonding is
required to be evaluated. The interfacial treatment also
affects the adhesion between surfaces of BFRP sheet and
laminated bamboo.
Based on discussions mentioned above, several experi-
mental parameters, including the bonding material, the
resin coated to the laminated bamboo, and the interfacial
treatment, were considered in the present study.
Bonding test protocol
A total of four BFRP-bamboo double shear specimens were
prepared for preliminary tests on bonding behavior
between BFRP and laminated bamboo, experimental para-
meters of which are listed in Table 1. As shown in Figure 1,
two laminated bamboo blocks with dimensions of 230 mm
in length, 120 mm in width, and 20 mm in height were
bonded together by one layer of BFRP sheet. The width
and length of the BFRP sheet were 30 and 60 mm, respec-
tively. Two kinds of impregnating resins, working as bond-
ing materials, from different local companies were adopted
herein, which were named as San You and Phoenix.
The main preparation processes of the BFRP-bamboo
double shear specimen, taking specimen D2 as example,
Lv and Liu 3

Table 1. Details and test results of BFRP-bamboo double shear specimens for preliminary tests.

Label Bonding material Surface resin Interfacial treatment Failure mode Ultimate load (kN)
D1 San You — Yes BFRP fracture 10.64
D2 San You Yes No BFRP fracture 8.81
D3 San You — No BFRP fracture 10.01
D4 Phoenix — No Bond failure 7.14

BFRP: basalt fiber-reinforced plastic.

two types: (1) the bond failure between surfaces of BFRP

C-type clamp sheet and bamboo block, as shown in Figure 3(a). The
failure surface was smooth with sporadic bamboo crumbs.
(2) The fracture of BFRP sheet depicted in Figure 3(b),
which demonstrated the good bonding between the BFRP
BFRP sheet Bamboo block and bamboo.

Effect of experimental parameters. By comparing test results

Figure 1. Test specimen for bonding behavior.
Testing
machine
Bamboo
block BFRP sheet
Figure 2. Double shear test setup.
was summarized as follows: (1) using acetone to clean the
surface stain; (2) coating resin to the surface of the bamboo;
and (3) applying the bonding material and connecting two
bamboo blocks with the BFRP sheet. Besides, a C-type
clamp was used to avoid the relative movement between
two bamboo blocks, as shown in Figure 1.
The double shear test of BFRP-bamboo specimen was car-
ried out under the SANS electronic universal testing machine,
as shown in Figure 2. The displacement–control loading pat-
tern was adopted, with a displacement rate of 2 mm/min.
Test results and discussions of double shear test
Failure modes. Test results of the BFRP-bamboo double
shear test are listed in Table 1. In the initial loading stage,
no significant change was observed, and a slight noise was
heard when the load was about 70–80% of the ultimate
load. The specimen failed quickly after the ultimate load.
Based on experimental observations, the failure modes
of the BFRP-bamboo specimens can be categorized into
of specimen D1 with interfacial treatment and specimen D3
without interfacial treatment, it is found that the ultimate
load of the former was almost the same with that of the
latter, as listed in Table 1. The failure modes of both speci-
mens D1 and D3 were the same, featured as the fracture of
BFRP sheet. It is concluded that the interfacial treatment
almost had no effect on the ultimate load and failure mode
of the BFRP-bamboo composite specimen.
In the comparison between specimen D2 with coated
resin and specimen D3 without coated resin on the surface
of the laminated bamboo block, the ultimate load of the
former was smaller than that of the latter, which demon-
strated that the coated resin was bad for the bonding beha-
vior of the BFRP-bamboo specimen. It is difficult for the
laminated bamboo block with high compactness to be per-
meated by the surface resin; and therefore, the bonding
effectiveness was reduced by the coated surface resin.
Based on test results of specimen D3 applied with bonding
material San You and specimen D4 applied with bonding
material Phoenix, the ultimate load obtained from D3 was
40.2% larger than the ultimate load obtained from D4. It is
concluded that the bonding material San You should be
more suitable for the bonding between the BFRP sheet and
the laminated bamboo block.
Test on BFRP-bamboo composite beam
Experimental program
Based on results of the preliminary test, the bonding mate-
rial San You and the interfacial treatment were adopted for
the BFRP-bamboo composite beam without coated resin on
the surface of the laminated bamboo beam. To investigate
the mechanical performance of the BFRP-bamboo compo-
site beam, different dimensions of the beam and different
layers of the BFRP sheet were taken into consideration.
Details of tested BFRP-bamboo composite beams are listed
in Table 2. The cross section of the BFRP-bamboo compo-
site beam in series A was designed as 50  100  2000
4 Advanced Composites Letters

(a) (b)

BFRP sheet BFRP sheet

BFRP
Bond fracture
failure
Bamboo
Bamboo
block
block

Figure 3. Failure modes of BFRP-bamboo specimens under double shear test. (a) Bond failure and (b) fracture of BFRP sheet. BFRP:
basalt fiber-reinforced plastic.

Table 2. Details of BFRP-bamboo composite beams.

Series A B
Specimen label A0 A1 A2 B0 B1 B2
Beam dimension 50  100  2000 mm3 (b  h  l) 50  150  3000 mm3 (b  h  l)
Sheet layer 0 layer 1 layer 2 layers 0 layer 1 layer 2 layers

BFRP: basalt fiber-reinforced plastic.

BFRP sheet
Force
distribution Three dividing point
Bottom surface of the beam
beam

Three
Top surface of the beam
dividing Tested beam
point Displacement
Figure 4. Photo of the tested specimen. transducer

mm3 and that in series B was 50  150  3000 mm3. No
BFRP sheet was bonded to the laminated bamboo in speci-
mens A0 and A1, but one layer and two layers of BFRP
sheets were employed in specimens A1, B1 and specimens
A2, B2, respectively.
The photo of the representative tested specimens is
shown in Figure 4. The BFRP-bamboo composite beam
specimen installed in the test setup was loaded under three
points of division loading pattern, as shown in Figure 5. A
preloading with the load amplitude of 1 kN was applied to
the composite beam to check the workability of the testing
machine and the installation of the specimen. Then, a load-
controlled loading pattern was adopted with an increment
of 1 kN for each load amplitude. When the applied load
approximated the estimated ultimate load, the load-
controlled loading was transferred to the displacement-
controlled loading with a displacement rate of 2 mm/min.
Figure 5. Test setup.
Strains of the laminated bamboo and BFRP sheet and
deformations of the mid-span of the BFRP-bamboo com-
posite beam were monitored during the loading histories.
The typical measurement layout of strain gages and displa-
cement transducers is shown in Figure 6. All strains and
displacements were collected by TDS-530.
Test results and discussions
Experimental observations and failure modes.
1. Specimen A0 (50  100  2000 mm3, no bonded
BFRP sheet) and specimen B0 (50  150  3000
mm3, no bonded BFRP sheet):
Lv and Liu 5

Applied load
Force distribution
Displacement Loading point beam
transducer

Y3

s
Y4

s
S = h /5 Laminated
h
Strain gages Y5

s
Y6 bamboo

s
s
Bottom
surface BFRP sheet Support
h /2 L n/3 L n/6 L n/6 L n/3 h /2
L = 20 h

Y1
Strain gages Y2

Laminated
Bottom Top surface
surface bamboo

Y7
Strain gages Y8

BFRP sheet

Figure 6. Measurement layout.

The deformation of the beam increased gradually at the
initial loading stage in specimen A0. Then, a significant
deformation shown in Figure 7(a) was observed after the
estimated proportional limit. When the applied load was
around 18.8 kN, the initiation of the crack depicted in Fig-
ure 7(b) was observed at the bottom surface of the beam
corresponding to the position of the loading point and a
small noise caused by the fracture of bamboo fibers was
heard. With the development of the applied load, the cracks
gradually became larger (see Figure 7(c)), which resulted in
the delamination of bamboo fibers in Figure 7(d). The fail-
ure of the laminated bamboo beam was achieved at the
ultimate load of 21.4 kN. The experimental phenomenon
of the specimen B0 was similar to specimen A0. However,
the specimen B0 had a larger ultimate load of 25.5 kN
compared with specimen A0, due to the bigger cross
section.
2. Specimen A1 (50  100  2000 mm3, one layer of
bonded BFRP sheet) and specimen A2 (50  100 
2000 mm3, two layers of bonded BFRP sheets):
Similar to specimen A0, the deformations of both speci-
mens A1 and A2 gradually increased until a significant
deformation was observed around the estimated propor-
tional limit. As shown in Figure 8(a), the fracture of the
bamboo fibers and the BFRP sheet in specimen A1 was
observed at the same time when the applied load was
around 24.4 kN. In specimen A2, the debonding of the
bamboo fibers and the BFRP sheet was found at the ulti-
mate load of 26.70 kN, while the bamboo fibers fractured
but no fracture of the BFRP sheets was observed, as
depicted in Figure 8(b).
3. Specimen B1 (50  150  3000 mm3, one layer of
bonded BFRP sheet) and specimen B2 (50  150 
3000 mm3, two layers of bonded BFRP sheet):
Similar to specimen B0, the deformations of both speci-
mens B1 and B2 gradually increased before the estimated
proportional limit. With the further increase of the applied
load, the out-of-plane deformation of the specimens B1
could be observed in Figure 9(a). The out-of-plane instabil-
ity was finally observed until the applied load reached
24.99 kN. It is obvious that the bamboo fibers on the side
surface of the specimens B1 fractured due to the out-of-
plane deformation, as shown in Figure 9(b). For specimens
B2, the fracture of bamboo fibers was observed at the
applied load of 24.00 kN, with a small noise. Then, both
of the laminated bamboo and BFRP sheet fractured at the
ultimate load of 28.40 kN, regarded as the failure of the
composite beam.
Based on the experimental observations discussed
above, the failure characteristics of the laminated bamboo
beam and the BFRP-bamboo composite beam can be sum-
marized as follows:
6 Advanced Composites Letters

(a) (b)

Cracks

Deformation
direction

(c) (d)
Delamination of
Cracks bamboo fibers

Figure 7. Experimental observations of specimen A0: (a) significant deformation of the composite beam, (b) cracks initiated at the
bottom surface, (c) cracks developed at the bottom surface, and (d) delamination of bamboo fibers.

(a) (b)

Fracture of Debonding of
bamboo fibers bamboo and BFRP

Fracture of BFRP

Figure 8. Experimental observations of specimens A1 and A2: (a) fracture of laminated bamboo and BFRP sheet in specimen A1 and (b)
delamination between BFRP sheets and laminated bamboo in specimen A2. BFRP: basalt fiber-reinforced plastic.

For laminated bamboo beam. As shown in Figure 7(b) and bamboo fibers at the ultimate strain and the shear crack initial
(d), two main types of cracks were observed in the laminated from the loading point and developed into the pure bending
bamboo beam, which were the tensile crack and shear crack. part of the composite beam, namely the part between two
The tensile crack was resulted from the fracture of the loading points, caused by both bending and shear forces.
Lv and Liu
(a)
Out-of-plane
deformation
Figure 9. Experimental observations of specimens B1: (a) out-of-plane deformation and (b) fracture of bamboo fibers on the side
surface.
(a)
Fracture of bamboo
and BFRP
Figure 10. Experimental observations of specimens B2: (a) fracture of laminated bamboo fibers and BFRP sheets in specimen B2 and (b)
local enlarged drawing. BFRP: basalt fiber-reinforced plastic.
For BFRP-bamboo composite beam. As shown in Figures 8
to 10, three main types of failure patterns of the BFRP-
bamboo composite beam were concluded as: (1) the frac-
ture of laminated bamboo fibers and BFRP sheet at the
same time; (2) the debonding of the laminated bamboo and
the BFRP sheet; and (3) the out-of-plane instability. In the
first failure pattern, the tensile force of the BFRP sheet
suddenly increased due to the fracture of the bamboo fibers
reaching its ultimate strain, which resulted in the frac-
ture of BFRP sheet at the same time. Even if the ulti-
mate tensile strain of the BFRP sheet is larger than that
of the bamboo fiber, the fracture of the BFRP sheet and
bamboo fibers still occurred almost at the same time,
which was regarded as the ideal failure of the BFRP-
bamboo composite beam. Besides, the out-of-plane
instability of the BFRP-bamboo composite beam in the
third failure pattern was caused by the initial geometri-
cal imperfection, making the composite beam
7
(b)
Fracture of
bamboo fibers
Side surface
(b)
Fracture of
bamboo fibers
Fracture of BFRP
underdeveloped. Such failure pattern of the composite
beam should be purposely avoided; and therefore, the
lateral supports are recommended to prevent the possible
out-of-plane deformation.
Load–displacement curves. The load–displacement curves of
all BFRP-bamboo composite beam specimens are shown in
Figure 11, where the abscissa is the displacement moni-
tored from the middle-span of the specimen and the ordi-
nate is the load applied by the testing machine. It is obvious
that three stages can be determined for both the laminated
bamboo beam and the BFRP-bamboo composite beam,
names of which are the initial linearly elastic stage, non-
linear stage, and abrupt failure stage, respectively. The
applied load increased almost linearly with the develop-
ment of mid-span displacement at the initial linearly elastic
stage. Then, the nonlinear relationship was achieved before
the sudden failure of the specimen.
8 Advanced Composites Letters

(a) (b)
30 30
Ultimate load
Instability
25 25

20 20
Load (kN)

Ultimate load

Load (kN)
15 15

10 10
A0 B0
5 A1 5 B1
A2 B2
0 0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Displacement (mm) Displacement (mm)

Figure 11. Load–displacement curves of the BFRP-bamboo composite beams: (a) series A and (b) series B. BFRP: basalt fiber-
reinforced plastic.

Table 3. Test results of all composite beam specimens.a

Specimen label Yield force (kN) Yield displacement (mm) Ultimate load (kN) Ultimate displacement (mm) Ductility
A0 18.86 59.95 21.50 82.60 1.38
A1 21.17 66.90 24.50 101.63 1.52
A2 22.90 72.12 26.70 112.09 1.56
B0 22.09 72.46 25.50 106.64 1.47
B1 — — 24.99 93.82 —
B2 24.32 75.68 28.40 112.83 1.49
a
Only the ultimate load and displacement were calculated for specimen B1 due to the instability of B1.

Test results of all BFRP-bamboo composite beam speci-
mens are listed in Table 3, which include the yield force,
yield displacement, ultimate force, ultimate displacement,
and ductility. The yield displacement and yield force are
calculated based on the average values obtained from the
equivalent elastoplastic energy method 25 and R.Park
method.26 The ultimate displacement is the displacement
corresponding to the ultimate load and the ductility is
defined as the ratio of the ultimate displacement to the yield
displacement.
As shown in Figure 11 and Table 3, it is obvious that
the yield force of specimen A1 with one layer of BFRP
sheet and specimen A2 with two layers of BFRP sheets
increased 12.2% and 21.4%, respectively, compared
with specimen A0 without BFRP sheet. The improve-
ments in the ultimate loads of specimens A2 and A1
were, respectively, 14.0% and 24.2% compared with the
ultimate load of specimen A0. It is obvious that both the
yield load and the ultimate load increased with the layer
of the BFRP sheet. In terms of yield displacement, the
yield displacements of specimens A1 and A2 are 66.90
and 72.12 mm, which are 11.6% and 20.3% larger than
the yield displacement of the specimen A0. Besides, the
ultimate displacements of specimens A1 and A2 are
23.0% and 35.7% larger than that of the specimen A0,
respectively. It is found that both the yield displacement
and the ultimate displacement also increased with the
layer of the BFRP sheet.
The similar situation was observed in the variation of
the yield force of specimens in series B. Comparing
specimen B2 with two layers of BFRP sheets and B0
without BFRP sheet, the ultimate load of former was
11.9% larger than that of the latter. However, the ulti-
mate load of the specimen B1 failing due to instability
was even smaller than that of specimen B0. The yield
displacement and ultimate displacement of the specimen
B2 is 4.4% and 5.8% larger than those of the specimen
B0, respectively.
The ductility of specimens A1 and A2 with BFRP sheet
was significantly better than the ductility of specimen with-
out BFRP sheet, but the ductility between specimens A1
and A2 was similar. The ductility improved about 10.1%
and 13.0% in specimens A1 and A2 due to the existence of
BFRP sheet compared with the specimen A0. However, the
improvement of the ductility was only 2.6% caused by
more layers of BFRP sheet, comparing specimens A1 and
A2. It is concluded that the BFRP-bamboo composite beam
had better ductility than the laminated bamboo beam
Lv and Liu 9

calculated based on equation (4), the calculation results

Beam P/2 P/2
Support
P/2 P/2
PLn/6
h/2 Ln/3 Ln/6 Ln/6 Ln/3 h/2
L = 20 h
Figure 12. Moment distribution of the tested specimen.
without BFRP sheet when the beam dimension was 50 
100  2000 mm3. In series B, the improvement in ductility
became not significantly enough when the beam dimension
became larger. Besides, by comparing specimens A0, B0
and specimens A2, B2, it can be seen that both yield force
and ultimate force increased with the increasing dimension
of the beam.
To have a deeper understanding of the stiffness varia-
tion between the laminated bamboo beam and composite
beam with different layers of BFRP sheets during the
whole loading history, the displacements of tested speci-
mens under different loading levels were compared. As
shown in Figure 11, at the initial loading state, the stiff-
ness of the laminated bamboo beam was only slightly
smaller than that of the BFRP-bamboo composite beam,
which meant that the BFRP sheet in the composite beam
contributed little to the stiffness. However, in the non-
linear stage, the displacement of the BFRP-bamboo com-
posite beam was significantly less than the displacement
of the laminated bamboo beam under the same loading
level. The stiffness in the nonlinear stage was largely
improved by the existence of the BFRP sheet, and obvi-
ously, two layers of BFRP sheets better increased the
stiffness of BFRP-bamboo composite beam than one layer
of BFRP sheet.
Flexural demand. As shown in Figure 12, the cross-sectional
moment in the pure bending part of the test specimen,
namely the part between two loading points, is obtained
as follows:
PLn
M¼
6
where Ln is the span length of the tested specimen, P is the
applied load, and b and h are the width and height of the
specimen, respectively. Furthermore, the ultimate flexural
strength of the BFRP-bamboo composite beam can be
of which are listed in Table 4.
Pu Ln
Mu ¼ ð5Þ
6
where Pu is the ultimate load.
Load–strain analysis. The load–strain curves obtained from
strain gages attached on the top and bottom surface of the
tested specimens are shown in Figure 13, and locations of
strain gages are shown in Figure 6.
For specimens in series A at the failure point, the aver-
age strains obtained from the strain gages Y1 and Y2
attached on the top surface were 1.18%, 1.92%, and
2.38%, respectively. The negative sign means the com-
pressive strain. The compressive strain of the specimen A1
increased around 62.7% compared with specimen A0, and
the compressive strain of the specimen A2 improved
around 101.7% compared with specimen A0. It is obvious
that the BFRP-bamboo composite beam has better ability to
utilize the compression performance of the bamboo fibers
due to the existence of the BFRP sheet.
Strains under different loading levels obtained from
strain gages of Y3 to Y6 (see Figure 6) are shown in
Figure 14. The linear strain distribution along the beam
height was found in the tested specimens during the whole
loading histories, which demonstrated the plane cross sec-
tion of the beam was achieved. Furthermore, the positions
of the neutral axis of the tested specimens under different
loading levels were calculated based on the strain distribu-
tion depicted in Figure 14, and the calculated results are
listed in Table 5. It can be seen that the neutral axis of
the BFRP-bamboo composite beam moved down with the
development of the applied load. This phenomenon was
explained as the contribution of BFRP sheet in sustaining
the tensile stress. Comparing specimens A1, A2 and speci-
mens B1, B2, it is concluded that the layer of the BFRP
sheet had significant effect on the position of the neutral
axis, and the neutral axis would move downward with the
increasing layer of the BFRP sheet.
ð4Þ Theoretical analyses of BFRP-bamboo
composite beam
Based on the experimental discussions above, the theoreti-
cal analyses of the ultimate bearing capacities of the BFRP-
bamboo composite beam were conducted based on the

Table 4. Mechanical properties related to the flexural behavior.

Specimen label Ultimate load (kN) L (mm) b (mm) h (mm) Ln (mm) Flexural strength (kNmm)
A0 21.50 2000 50 100 1900 6808.3
A1 24.50 2000 50 100 1900 7758.3
A2 26.70 2000 50 100 1900 8455.0
B0 25.50 3000 50 150 2850 12112.5
B2 28.40 3000 50 150 2850 13490.0
10 Advanced Composites Letters

(a) (b)
25
25
20
20
15
Load (kN)

Load (kN)
15

10
10
Y1 Y1
Y2 Y2
5 5
Y7 Y7
Y8 Y8
0 0
-15000 -10000 -5000 0 5000 10000 -20000 -15000 -10000 -5000 0 5000
Strain (με) Strain (με)

(c)
30

25

20
Load (kN)

15

10
Y1
5 Y2
Y7
0 Y8
-30000 -20000 -10000 0 10000
Strain (με)

Figure 13. Load–strain curves for: (a) A0, (b) A1, and (c) A2.

following points: (1) the strain distribution of the beam relative slide exists between the BFRP sheet and the lami-
accords with the plane section assumption based on the nated bamboo in specimens featured as fracture failure.
strain analysis in ‘Load–strain analysis’ section and (2) the Therefore, Equations (7) and (8) are achieved.
elastic tensile modulus of the laminated bamboo is sf stu
the same with the elastic compressive modulus. ef ¼ ¼ etu ¼ ð7Þ
Ef E
Based on the failure pattern of the fracture of laminated
bamboo fibers and BFRP sheet observed in specimens A1 Ef
T f ¼ s f bf t f ¼ stu bf tf ð8Þ
and B2 and strain distributions along beam height depicted E
in Figure 14, it can be concluded that the ultimate tensile where ef is tensile strain of the BFRP sheet; sf is tensile
stress was achieved at the bottom surface and the compres- stress of the BFRP sheet; Ef is tensile modulus of the
sive stress on the top surface was larger than the yield stress BFRP sheet; E is modulus for both tension and compres-
but smaller than the ultimate compressive stress. The strain sion of the laminated bamboo; bf is the width of the BFRP
distribution at the failure point for the BFRP-bamboo com- sheet; and tf is thickness of the BFRP sheet. From the
posite beam is thus shown in Figure 15. The following similar triangle, the ratio of stu to scu is same with the
equation can be obtained based on the force equilibrium ratio of h1 to h2. By making stu/scu ¼ b and Efbftf/Ebh ¼ l,
condition at the cross section. the values of h1, h2, and h3 can be expressed in the fol-
1 1 lowing equations.
stu bh1 þ T f ¼ scu bh2 þ scu bh3 ð6Þ
2 2 2bð1  lbÞ
h1 ¼ h ð9Þ
where stu and scu are the ultimate tensile and compressive ð1 þ bÞ 2
stresses of the laminated bamboo, respectively; b is the
2ð1  lbÞ
width of the beam; h1, h2, and h3 are shown in Figure 15; h2 ¼ h ð10Þ
and Tf is the tensile force sustained by BFRP sheet. No ð1 þ bÞ 2
Lv and Liu 11

(a) (b)
80 80

70 70

60 60
Height (mm)

Height (mm)
50 5kN 50 5kN
10kN 10kN
40 40
15kN 15kN
30 20kN 30 20kN
24kN 25kN
20 24.55kN 20 26.7kN
-12000 -8000 -4000 0 4000 -12000 -8000 -4000 0 4000
Strain (με) Strain (με)

(c) (d)
120 120

100 100
Height (mm)

Height (mm)
80 80 5kN
10kN
5kN 15kN
60 60
10kN 20kN
15kN 25kN
40 20kN 40 28kN
24.99kN 28.2kN
20 20
-8000 -4000 0 4000 -12000 -8000 -4000 0 4000
Strain (με) Strain (με)

Figure 14. Strain distributions along beam height under different loading levels: (a) A1, (b) A2, (c) B1, and (d) B2.

Table 5. Positions of neutral axis under different loading levels.

εc σ cu
Relative height of neutral axis
h3
Load (kN) A1 A2 B1 B2
h2

5 0.481 0.458 0.535 0.435

h

10 0.500 0.460 0.530 0.412

15 0.474 0.437 0.503 0.407
h1

20 0.413 0.397 0.441 0.394

Tf
εtu σ tu
b þ 2l  1 b
h3 ¼ h ð11Þ
1þb
Figure 15. Strain and stress distribution of the cross section at
The sum of the moments caused by the internal and the failure point.
external forces on the neutral axis is zero, and thus the
ultimate flexural strength of the BFRP-bamboo composite 6M u
beam is obtained as follows: ¼ Pu ð13Þ
Ln
1 1 1
M u ¼ stu bh1 2 þ T f h1 þ scu bh2 2 þ scu bh3 ðh2 þ h3 Þ The ultimate bearing capacities of the BFRP-bamboo
3 3 2
composite beams, featured as fracture failure, calculated from
ð12Þ
the above derivations and test results are listed in Table 6.
The corresponding load applied by the testing machine The difference between the analytical and experimental
expressed in equation (13) can be calculated based on results was less than 8%, which showed a good prediction
equation (5). of the bearing capacity from the theoretical derivation.
12
Table 6. Comparisons between test results and analytical
analyses.
Test result Analytical
Specimen label (kN) result (kN) Difference (%)
A1 24.50 26.52 7.63
B2 28.40 27.14 4.65
Conclusions
In the present study, the bonding behavior between the
BFRP and the laminated bamboo was studied through four
bonded bamboo specimens under double shear test.
Besides, two laminated bamboo beams and four BFRP-
bamboo composite beams in all were tested to investigate
the mechanical behaviors and develop high-performance
bamboo composite structure. Design parameters, including
the layer of the BFRP sheet, dimensions of the beam, were
compared to provide an effective way to fabricate the com-
posite beam. The main results are summarized as follows:
Based on the double shear test on the bonded bamboo
specimens, the bonding behavior between the BFRP and
laminated bamboo is proved to be related to the coated
surface resin, types of bonding materials, and interfacial
treatment. The surface resin decreases the bonding beha-
vior due to the high compactness of the laminated bamboo,
and the interfacial treatment can slightly improve the bond-
ing behavior. The recommended bonding material is fur-
ther provided for the BFRP-bamboo composite beam.
Based on test results of the BFRP-bamboo composite
beam, three types of failure modes are concluded: the frac-
ture of laminated bamboo fibers and BFRP sheet, the
debonding of the laminated bamboo and the BFRP sheet,
and the out-of-plane instability.
The yield force, yield displacement, ultimate load, ulti-
mate displacement, ductility, and stiffness of the tested
specimens are highly related to the layer of the BFRP sheet
and the dimension. All parameters increase with the
increase of the layer of the BFRP sheet.
The plane section assumption for the tested specimens is
confirmed based on the strain distribution along the beam
height. The neutral axis of the BFRP-bamboo composite
beam moves down with the application of the BFRP sheet.
Besides, theoretical derivations of the BFRP-bamboo com-
posite beam failing due to fracture have been conducted
based on the plane section assumption, the accuracy of
which is checked.
Declaration of conflicting interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with
respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this
article.
Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support
for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This
Advanced Composites Letters
work was financially supported by the Integrated Key Precast
Components and New Wood-bamboo Composite Structure
(2017YFC0703502).
ORCID iD
Ye Liu https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5004-9011
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