Bending failure modes in solid stem wood and solid culm bamboo varies depending on material and geometric properties. Solid culm cross-sections of Oxythenantera Abyssinica round bamboo resemble to wood, but are anatomically different in their mode of growth and tissue organization. The bending stress gradient and failure behavior has highly related with the culm internal voids termed as hollowness which depends on age of bamboo. Hollowness (k) refers the relative proportion of void volume to solid volume with in a culm. Full culm beam specimens with length of 3.5 m were subjected to bending under 4-point static loading according to ISO 22155. Pattern of vertical deflection varies depending on the maturity of the culm. A statistical and experimental results showed that, for K values between 12-15% a mixed mode of local buckling with a longitudinal shear splitting failure mode was resulted in 4-year age bamboo specimens with a slight (14 mm) shift from the shear center inducing large vertical deflection (142 mm) at midspan. A kink buckle and green stick modes were observed in 2-year and 3-year ages culms at failure point of 124 and 158mm at length ‘L’ (L/2.5 to L/4.5) from shear center with a k value 25-27% and 18-22% respectively.

Hollowness ratio; failure behavior; failure location; bending stress; longitudinal shear; shear center