Ricerc@Sapienza

The main characteristics of an original bamboo-steel composite truss structure are presented in this work. Specifically, the considered system is a spatial truss structure whose upper chord and diagonal bars are made by glubam elements whereas its lower chord is made by steel members with a hollow cross-section. This novel structural system has been conceived to build roofs and low/mid-span bridges (for example, footbridges), in such a way to ensure easy and rapid construction, efficient use of the constituent materials, low manufacturing costs and good environmental sustainability.

The need for enhancing the sustainability of civil constructions has originated an increasing interest in the use of engineered bamboo-based products within the building sector. Nonetheless, while the static response of bamboo-made structures has been largely investigated, experimental and numerical researches concerning the response under dynamic loads are limited. Therefore, the present work deals with the assessment of the seismic behavior of modern bamboo lightweight shear walls, with focus on the energy dissipation ensured by sheathing-to-framing connections.