Philosophies of bamboo structural design and key parameters for developing the philosophies

Abstract

This article reviews the existing design philosophies of structural elements made of different structural materials in general and bamboo materials in specific. The theories behind design practice would be the main cornerstone for articulating why and how we employ a single philosophy. The demand for using verified theories or philosophies will facilitate the drawing of sound models. The detailed theoretical basis and methods that include the fundamental one are studied through extensive literature reviews in an organized way, and a critical synthesis has been made upon the basic parameters identified. Establishing a sound philosophy to address the existing behavior of materials and loads takes quite a time. Philosophies like allowable stress design, load factor design, and limit state design are the classical ones, while capacity-based, performance-based, and risk-based are the emerging ones for structural element design. The key characteristics for addressing the possible factors for developing a philosophy, whether classical or emerging, are valuable to seek out. The paper identifies the key parameters to develop a design philosophy using a Delphi survey from selected scientists. The key parameters found are material behavior, load behavior, displacement, failure modes, functionality, and method of construction. The identified key parameters need to be incorporated while developing a sound structural design philosophy. It is found that there is a significant relationship between material properties and design philosophy available when the force-based design approach is preferred, but if the functional-based and displacement-based approaches are used, there is no significant relationship between material properties and design philosophy.

Keywords

• structural material behavior
• bamboo material
• loads
• literature review
• Delphi study
• key attributes