Practical bamboo joint design for small bamboo shelter

Abstract

This report is focused on the analysis of displacement of bamboo X – joints under compressive load. Two different designs were conceptualized based on results obtained by previous final year project (FYP) students who reinforced the X – Joint using galvanized steel plate (Ng, 2010) and bolt (Ong, 2010).

Design improvements and experimental work to evaluate the effect of the improved design is reported here. According to the experimental results, it is identified that the thin rubber joint design improves the overall joint performance. The use of thin rubber and aluminum in the joints shows a considerable improvement in the stability of the joint, decreases the overall joint stiffness and increases the maximum allowable displacement thus making the joint more ductile. The results also show that increasing the thickness of the rubber causes abrupt failures to occur.