Lateral performance of circular wooden columns reinforced with high-performance bamboo-based composite

This study researches the lateral performance of wooden columns strengthened with the non-damage reinforcement method, which used high-performance bamboo-based composite (HPBBC) materials and steel strips to form a hollow reinforcement system and then jacketed and reinforced the wooden columns. Six wooden columns strengthened by non-damage reinforcing methods were subjected to low cyclic loading tests under horizontal loads with a constant axial pressure ratio. The horizontal loads, displacements, and strain distributions of different locations at the column root were measured. The experimental results showed that the reinforcement method improved the lateral performance of wooden columns by about 4.96–58.54 %. Owing to the protective effect of the reinforcement system, the development of tensile damage to the wooden columns was delayed, but the breaking location was still the column root. In addition, the energy dissipation capacity and equivalent viscous damping coefficient of the reinforced wooden columns were significantly improved. The deformation of the strengthened column root conforms to the plane section assumption, while the deformation of the reinforcement system was lagged due to the absence of colloid and shear connectors between the wooden column and the reinforcement system. A bending capacity equation for the reinforced wood column was deduced based on the strain distribution in the damaged section. The error between the calculated and experimental results was within 13 %. •Seismic performance of wood column strengthened with damage-free method.•High-performance bamboo-based composites (HPBBC) as reinforced materials.•Effect of reinforced materials and thickness on the strengthened method.•A lateral load-bearing capacity equation of strengthened timber column is proposed.