Experimental buckling performance of scrimber composite columns under axial compression

Wood, as a renewable and environmentally friendly building material, has gained much attention in sustainable building industry. In terms of mechanical and physical properties, wood-based composite normally has less inherent variability than the natural wood material. Thus, wood-based composite is considered as a promising material choice for timber constructions. A novel scrimber composite, which is manufactured from fast-growing wood, is introduced in this paper. Small clear specimens were sampled and tested to determine the mechanical properties of the scrimber composite. Experiments were then conducted to investigate the mechanical performance of 50 scrimber columns under axial compression. The failure modes with respect to various slenderness ratios are reported, and attempts were made through theoretical analysis to predict the buckling stress of the column specimens under both elastic buckling and inelastic buckling. The presented experimental results and analyses serve as fundamental knowledge for evaluating the mechanical performance of scrimber columns, thus supporting more applications of such composite material in practical engineering.