Lateral resistance of plybamboo wall-panels

This paper deals with the experimental and theoretical behavior of plybamboo (kind of plywood made out of bamboo) wall-panels subjected to lateral load. The wall-panels are part of a house design method proposed in the author's PhD thesis for prefabricated social housing in developing countries. Sixteen fullscaled wallpanels with or without window and door openings were tested and their theoretical capacities estimated. Design wind and seismic loads were determined according to the International Building Code 2000. The results showed that all the specimens present ductile behavior adequate for expected wind and seismic loads. The theoretical models for calculating lateral capacities of timber framed walls gave lower values than the experimental ones. The wall-panels sheathed with plybamboo and traditional plywood showed similar behavior and hence, plybamboo could be used as an alternative sheathing material in timber frame construction. Key Words: Shear-Walls, Plybamboo, Timber Framed Walls, Structural Panels, Bamboo Structure