Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Concrete-Bamboo Sandwich Panel (BSP) as Load-Bearing Wall Under Compression Loading

Studies on recent tropical bamboo development as the structural component are very limited. Therefore, an experimental programme was conducted to investigate the possible application of the infilled concrete with bamboo as a load-bearing wall. This study observed effective and practical techniques of concrete-bamboo sandwich panels (BSP) constructed as load-bearing walls with and without openings to withstand compression loads. A nonlinear 3D finite element model (FEM) of the BSP wall was developed using the ABAQUS 2022 to simulate the entire BSP component. As a result, the BSP without openings exhibits higher compressive strength than the BSP with openings. The stress predictions from the finite element model align closely with experimental data, with error rates of 16.98 for walls with openings and 1.38 for walls without openings. The failure mechanism of load-bearing walls is effectively modelled, and the predicted failure loads are in close agreement with the experimental results. Furthermore, an increase in the percentage of longitudinal bamboo reinforcement significantly enhances the compression strength and load-carrying capacity of the BSP walls. © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2025.