Mechanical Properties of Moso Bamboo Connections with External Clamp Steel Plates

The Moso bamboo,a renewable green building material used in various new green buildings,have received exten-sive attention with the promotion of the concept of green buildings.To explore the mechanical properties of Moso bamboo connections with external clamp steel plates,the 16 specimens were designed by changing the bolt diameters and the end distances of the bolt holes.Their static tension tests were conducted to investigate bearing capacities and failure modes of different connection configurations.Based on test results,three failure modes of these connections were obtained,including the shear failure of bolt shank,bearing failure of bolt hole and punch-ing shear failure of the Moso bamboo.The influence of bolt diameters and end distances of bolt holes on bearing capacities of the connections was quantitatively analyzed.Based on a simplified mechanical model,the analytical models were deduced for the bolt shear failure and the bearing failure of bolt holes.The results showed that the predictive values are in substantial agreement with the experimental results.Finally,the design and manufacturing suggestions are recommended for this Moso bamboo connections.

Numerical modeling of external light gauge steel framed wall systems exposed to bushfire flame zone conditions

Bushfire-related building losses cause adverse economic impacts to countries prone to bushfires.Building materials and components play a vital role in reducing these impacts.However,due to high costs of experimental studies and lack of numerical studies,the heat transfer behavior of building’s external components in bushfire-prone areas has not been adequately investigated.Often large-scale heat transfer models are developed using Computational Fluid Dynamics(CFD)tools,and the availability of CFD models for heat transfer in building components improves the understanding of the behavior of systems and systems of systems.Therefore,this paper uses a numerical modeling approach to investigate the bushfire/wildfire resistance of external Light gauge Steel Framed(LSF)wall systems.Both full-scale and small-scale heat transfer models were developed for the LSF wall systems.Experimental results of six internal and external LSF wall systems with varying plasterboard thickness and cladding material were used to validate the developed models.The study was then extended to investigate the bushfire resistance of seven external wall systems under two different bushfire flame zone conditions.The results illustrate the significant effects of fire curves,LSF wall components and configuration on the heat transfer across the walls.They have shown 1)the favorable performance of steel cladding and Autoclaved Aerated Concrete(AAC)panels when used on the external side of wall systems and 2)the adequacy of thin-walled steel studs’load-bearing capacity during bushfire exposures.This study has shown that most of the investigated external LSF walls could be reused with cost-effective retrofitting such as replacing the Fire Side(FS)steel cladding after bushfire exposures.Overall,this study has advanced the understanding of the behavior of external light steel framed walls under bushfire flame zone conditions.