Design of a 3-storey frame building using engineered bamboo composite (EBC)

This paper reports the design of a 3-storey building using engineered bamboo composite (EBC). The building utilizes balloon type EBC frame and EBC hollow decks as the load-carrying system. Gravity load, wind load, and seismic load were considered in the design. In order to prevent the brittle fracture in EBC beams and columns, a T-shaped steel connector, which was used to join the beams and columns of the frames, was intentionally designed with lower moment resistance compared to the connected beams and columns. Hence the damage of the structure can be confined to the steel connector that enables good ductility for the structure. The performances of the structure under serviceability limit state and the ultimate limit state were evaluated based on the elastic analysis. Inelastic static analysis (pushover) was conducted to assess the structural performance beyond the elastic limit when the building subjected to the rare-encounter earthquake. It was demonstrated that the balloon type EBC frame can be designed with adequate stiffness and strength to meet the requirements of serviceability and load-carrying capacity. It also has good ductility when the lateral seismic load beyond its elastic limit. The design and construction of this building provided a testimony that EBC frame structure is suitable for low-rise building in seismic region, and it also has the advantages of quick erection on site and good economy.