Construction and Building Materials 148 (2017) 273–287

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Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Axial load behavior of structural bamboo filled with concrete and

cement mortar
Wen-Tao Li a, Yue-Ling Long a,b,⇑, Jun Huang c, Yan Lin c
a
Department of Civil Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
b
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Imperial College London, SW7 2AZ, UK
c
Architectural Design and Research Institute, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China

h i g h l i g h t s

The axial load behavior of material-filled structural bamboo was investigated.

The effects of infilled materials, horizontal stiffener and node were investigated.

The confining effects of bamboo were considered carefully in the study.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Bamboo has been widely used as a rapidly renewable structural material to build permanent and tempo-
Received 14 February 2017 rary structures in past decades. However, the compressive bearing capacity of bamboo is relatively low,
Received in revised form 4 May 2017 which limits its applications only in the structures under light loads. This paper proposed an innovative
Accepted 6 May 2017
scheme to improve the load bearing capacity of bamboo by filling concrete or cement mortar in bamboo
Available online 13 May 2017
cavity. An experimental study on the axial load behavior of material-filled structural bamboo was carried
out, aiming at investigating the effects of the infilled materials, the horizontal stiffener and the bamboo
Keywords:
node. A total of 19 specimens were tested under axial compression. It was found that the axial load bear-
Structural bamboo
Concrete-filled bamboo
ing capacities and the initial stiffness of both concrete-filled bamboo columns and cement mortar filled
Cement mortar filled bamboo bamboo columns are much higher than the conventional bamboo, which verified the feasibility of the
Node proposed stiffening scheme. Concrete-filled bamboo columns show better ductility than cement mortar
Stiffener filled bamboo columns. Furthermore, the ductility of concrete-filled bamboo columns can be improved by
Axial load behavior increasing the steel reinforcement ratio. In addition, the beneficial effect of the node on the ultimate bear-
ing capacity can be found in material-filled bamboo specimens, indicating that the integrity of the bam-
boo node is essential for the bearing capacities of material-filled bamboo columns. Similarly, the
horizontal stiffener passing through bamboo internode has a beneficial effect on both the ultimate bear-
ing capacities and the corresponding axial strains of material-filled bamboo columns and conventional
bamboo. However, the stiffener passing through the node may result in a decease in the bearing capacity.
Finally, a simple and efficient method was proposed for predicting the ultimate bearing capacity of
material-filled bamboo columns. The confining effects of bamboo on the infilled materials are considered
carefully in this method. The calculated results by the proposed method were compared with experimen-
tal results, exhibiting a good agreement.
Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction petitive and environmentally friendly alternative to non-

Bamboo as structural material has been extensively used to
build permanent and temporary structures in past decades. Bam-
boo is recognized as a sustainable material that can serve as a com-
⇑ Corresponding author at: Department of Civil Engineering, Guangdong Univer-
sity of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China.
E-mail addresses: longyueling@163.net, longyl@scut.edu.cn (Y.-L. Long).
renewable and polluting materials such as steel and concrete due
to that it is a rapidly renewable structural material and has
mechanical properties similar to timber [1–6]. In recent years, a
large number of experimental and analytical studies on the
mechanical properties of structural bamboo have been conducted
[6–20]. Also, several researchers have investigated the behavior
of bamboo as reinforcement in structural concrete [21–25].
According to the studies above, bamboo can be considered as an

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2017.05.061
0950-0618/Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
274 W.-T. Li et al. / Construction and Building Materials 148 (2017) 273–287

Nomenclature

D diameter of bamboo fhs yield strength of the horizontal stiffener

t wall thickness of bamboo ecc the peak axial strain
Ab cross-sectional area of bamboo eoh the peak hoop strain
As cross-sectional area of longitudinal steel bar Nue the experimental ultimate bearing capacity of speci-
Ahs cross-sectional area of the horizontal stiffener mens
Acc cross-sectional area of infilled material Nuc the calculated ultimate bearing capacity of specimens
f0 c cylinder strength of concrete l the ductility ratio of specimens
f0 m cylinder strength of cement mortar an the effect coefficient of bamboo node
f0 bc longitudinal compressive strength of bamboo a1 the effect coefficient of horizontal stiffener
fbh circumferential tensile strength of bamboo a2 the size effect coefficient of specimens
f0 l the lateral (radial) confining stress on the infilled mate- a3 the strength reduction coefficient for the longitudinal
rial steel bar
f0 cc longitudinal compressive strength of infilled material
fy yield strength of steel bar

attractive alternative to steel in tensile loading due to its relatively

high tensile strength, falling within the range of 100 MPa–
400 MPa. For some species of bamboo, the ultimate tensile
strength is same as the yield strength of mild steel. However, the
compressive strength of bamboo in cylindrical section is much
lower than its tensile strength, falling within the range of
12 MPa–65 MPa [16,17,24]. The relatively low comprehensive
strength of bamboo limits its applications only in the structures
under light loads, such as short-span footbridges, low-rise houses,
light roof structures and scaffolds. The typical bamboo structures (a) Bamboo footbridge
constructed in China are illustrated in Fig. 1.
All the previous studies have been focused on the mechanical
properties of structural bamboo or the behavior of bamboo as rein-
forcement in concrete. However, to the best knowledge of the
authors, no existing studies have been concerned with the stiffen-
ing schemes aiming at improving the load carrying capacity of con-
ventional structural bamboo. To improve the compressive bearing
capacity of structural bamboo, a simple and effective stiffening
scheme was originally proposed in the paper. The compressive
bearing capacity of structural bamboo was intended to be (b) Bamboo roof
improved by filling concrete or cement mortar in bamboo cavity.
To verify the feasibility of the proposed scheme, this paper pre-
sents the first ever exploratory study on the experimental behavior
of structural bamboo filled with concrete and cement mortar under
axial compression. A total of 19 specimens were tested under axial
compression, aiming at investigating the effects of the infilled
materials, the horizontal stiffener and the node on the axial behav-
ior of the specimens.

2. Experimental program

2.1. Test specimens

A total of 19 specimens, including 11 concrete-filled bamboo

stub columns, 3 cement mortar filled bamboo stub columns and
5 conventional bamboo stub columns, were tested under axial
compression. The details of the specimens are indicated in Fig. 2
and the properties of the specimens are listed in Table 1. Since
Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys pubescens) is the most important (c) Bamboo building
structural bamboo species [16], Moso bamboo was selected as
Fig. 1. Typical bamboo structures in China (Photographed by the authors).
structural bamboo in this study. In addition, concrete (including
plain concrete and reinforced concrete) and cement mortar were
respectively selected as the infilled materials in this study due to may influence the axial load behavior of structural bamboo filled
that they serve as conventional construction materials under com- with concrete and cement mortar. Thus, the effect of the bamboo
pression and they are both compatible with bamboo. As well as the node was investigated in this study. Furthermore, the horizontal
infilled materials, the bamboo node as a key component of bamboo
 W.-T. Li et al. / Construction and Building Materials 148 (2017) 273–287 275

D D D
t t Concrete t
Bamboo Bamboo
Bamboo Node

L
L

Node

L
Stiffener ( 4)

D D D
t t t
Concrete Bamboo
Bamboo Bamboo
Stiffener ( 4)

(a) S1 (b) S2, S13 (c) S3, S10

D D D
t t Bamboo t
Concrete
Concrete
Concrete
Bamboo Longitudinal reinforcement ( 12)
Node
Node Node
L

L
L

Stiffener ( 4)
Bamboo

D D
D t Concrete t
t Concrete
Concrete
Bamboo Bamboo
Bamboo
Stiffener ( 4) Longitudinal reinforcement ( 12)

(d) S4, S12 (e) S5, S14 (f) S6, S17

D D
t t
Longitudinal reinforcement ( 6) D
Cement mortar t
Concrete
Bamboo
Bamboo Bamboo
Node Node
L

D D
t Concrete D
t Cement mortar Longitudinal reinforcement ( 6) t

Bamboo Bamboo
Bamboo
80
Stirrup( 4@50)

(g) S7, S19 (h) S8 (i) S9

D D D Concrete D
t t Concrete t t
Bamboo Bamboo Cement mortar
Bamboo
Stiffener ( 4) Stiffener ( 4) Bamboo
L

Longitudinal reinforcement ( 12)

L

L
L

D
D D D Concrete t
t t t Bamboo
Concrete Bamboo
Bamboo Bamboo Cement mortar
Stiffener ( 4) Longitudinal reinforcement ( 12)
Stiffener ( 4)

(j) S11 (k) S15 (l) S16 (m) S18

Fig. 2. Details of test specimens.

276 W.-T. Li et al. / Construction and Building Materials 148 (2017) 273–287

Table 1
Properties of specimens.

Specimen L (mm) D (mm) t (mm) D/t Material infilled Node Stiffener Steel reinforcement
S1 300 150 11.4 13.2 – With Without –
S2 300 150 11.4 13.2 Concrete Without Without –
S3 300 150 11.4 13.2 – With With –
S4 300 150 11.4 13.2 Concrete With Without –
S5 300 150 11.4 13.2 Concrete With With –
S6 300 150 11.4 13.2 Concrete With Without Detailed in Fig. 2(f)
S7 300 150 11.4 13.2 Cement mortar With Without –
S8 300 150 11.4 13.2 Concrete With Without Detailed in Fig. 2(h)
S9 200 100 9.9 10.1 – Without Without –
S10 200 100 9.9 10.1 – With With –
S11 200 100 9.9 10.1 – Without With –
S12 200 100 9.9 10.1 Concrete With Without –
S13 200 100 9.9 10.1 Concrete Without Without –
S14 200 100 9.9 10.1 Concrete With With –
S15 200 100 9.9 10.1 Concrete Without With –
S16 200 100 9.9 10.1 Concrete Without Without Detailed in Fig. 2(l)
S17 200 100 9.9 10.1 Concrete With Without Detailed in Fig. 2(f)
S18 200 100 9.9 10.1 Cement mortar Without Without –
S19 200 100 9.9 10.1 Cement mortar With Without –

Note: ‘‘–” denotes not available.

stiffeners, which are usually used as connections for structural
bamboo culms (Fig. 3), also may influence the axial load behavior
of structural bamboo filled with concrete or cement mortar due
to that bamboo section is weakened by the stiffener. The effect of
the horizontal stiffener was also investigated in the test. Hence,
this study aimed to investigate the effects of the infilled materials,
the horizontal stiffener and the node on the axial load behavior of
structural bamboo filled with concrete or cement mortar.
As listed in Table 1, the length of each test specimen (L) was
twice the external diameter (D) of the bamboo culm. According
to different the external diameters (D), all the specimens can be
classified into two groups: Specimens S1–S8 are with the external
diameter of 150 mm while specimens S9–S19 are with the external
diameter of 100 mm. The bamboo culms used in the test were
selected carefully from the same batch of Moso bamboo stems,
which were 6 m in length and of 5 years of age, to ensure the accu-
racy of the dimensions of the specimens. Furthermore, all the bam-
boo culms used in this study were air-dried for 3 months to ensure
that the moisture content of bamboo is less than 15%.
As shown in Fig. 2 and Table 1, specimens S1, S3–S8, S10, S12,
S14, S17 and S19 were arranged with a bamboo node at mid-
height while the other specimens were without the node. For the
specimens with the node, the traversal diaphragm at the node
was weakened by drilling a hole of 120 mm for specimens S1–S8
and a hole of 60 mm for specimens S9–S19 before casting concrete
or cement mortar in bamboo cavity, which can bring convenience
in casting concrete or cement mortar in bamboo cavity. Specimens
S3, S5, S10–S11 and S14–S15 were arranged with the horizontal
stiffener at mid-height while the other specimens were without
the stiffener. Each horizontal stiffener is fixed to the bamboo culm
through a nut and washer on the two ends and the constructional
details of the horizontal stiffener are displayed in Fig. 4. Further-
more, the hole in the bamboo was pre-drilled in the factory to
accommodate the stiffener. In addition, the concrete-filled bamboo
specimens and cement mortar filled bamboo specimens were
cured for 28 days before they were tested.
In particular, specimen S8 was concrete-filled bamboo column,
consisted of four 6 mm diameter longitudinal rebars and 4 mm
diameter stirrups at a spacing of 50 mm, indicated in Fig. 2(h).
Specimens S6, S16 and S17 were concrete-filled bamboo columns,
consisted of one 12 mm diameter longitudinal rebar, respectively
illustrated in Fig. 2(f) and (l).
2.2. Material properties
2.2.1. Bamboo
Bamboo is an orthotropic material with high strength in the
direction parallel to the fibres and low strength perpendicular to
the fibres respectively [6–9,23]. Furthermore, the compressive
strength of bamboo in cylindrical section is much lower than its
tensile strength [16,17,24].Three longitudinal bamboo strip speci-
mens from the same batch of bamboo used in the test (indicated
in Fig. 5) were tested in tension at a constant rate of 1.0 mm/min
to obtain the longitudinal mechanical properties of bamboo. The
stress-strain curves of the longitudinal tensile test on the bamboo
strip specimens are indicated in Fig. 6. The average longitudinal
tensile strength, longitudinal tensile modulus and longitudinal
ultimate tensile stain of bamboo obtained from these coupon tests

(a) Connection between bamboo and concrete (b) Connection between bamboo members

Fig. 3. Typical application of the horizontal stiffeners in bamboo structures.

 W.-T. Li et al. / Construction and Building Materials 148 (2017) 273–287 277

Two strain gauges were placed on the outer surface of the bamboo
Bamboo Nut
Washer ring specimen to measure the hoop strain, also indicated in Fig. 7
(a). The typical failure mode of the bamboo ring is indicated in
Fig. 7(c). The stress-strain curves of circumferential tensile test
on the bamboo ring specimens are indicated in Fig. 8. The average
Hole: made by drilling circumferential tensile strength, circumferential tensile modulus
Bamboo
and circumferential ultimate tensile stain of bamboo obtained
from the bamboo ring tests were 8.36 MPa, 2.11 GPa and 0.40%,
Stiffener
respectively. Furthermore, both the longitudinal mechanical prop-
erties and the circumferential properties of bamboo in this study
are within the range of the properties of bamboo found in the pre-
vious studies [6–20]. In addition, the circumferential properties of
Fig. 4. Constructional details of the horizontal stiffener. bamboo as well as the compressive strength of bamboo in cylindri-
cal section were used to estimate the confining effects of bamboo
on the infilled material and predict the ultimate bearing capacity
Strain gauge of both concrete-filled bamboo columns and cement mortar filled
6 bamboo columns in Section 4.
20mm
2.2.2. Concrete and cement mortar
80mm 10mm 100mm 10mm 80mm Commercial self-compacting concrete was adopted to ensure
the quality of casting and the uniformity of concrete properties
Steel sheet in the specimens filled with concrete. Three plain concrete cylin-
t ders (152.5 mm in diameter and 305 mm in height) were prepared
and tested in compression following ASTM C39/C39M [26] to
determine the concrete properties. The average concrete cylinder
strength (f0 c) was 35.91 MPa and the corresponding strain (eco)
t = bamboo wall thickness was 0.0021. Similarly, three plain cement mortar cylinders
(152.5 mm in diameter and 305 mm in height) were prepared
Fig. 5. Details of the bamboo strip specimens.
and tested in compression to determine the cement mortar proper-
ties. The average cylinder strength of cement mortar (f0 m) was
13.60 MPa and the corresponding strain (emo) was 0.0023.
150
Specimen 1
Specimen 2
2.2.3. The horizontal stiffener and steel reinforcement
Specimen 3
The properties of the horizontal stiffener and steel enforcement
100 were obtained from tensile tests on coupons taken respectively
Stress (MPa)

50
0
0 5000 10000
Strain (με)
Fig. 6. Stress-strain curves of longitudinal tensile test.
were 147.06 MPa, 13.70 GPa and 1.07%, respectively. Similarly,
three bamboo cylinder specimens with a length to diameter ratio
(L/D) of 2.0 taken from the internodes of the same batch of bamboo
were tested in compression at a constant rate of 0.5 mm/min to
obtain the longitudinal compressive strength of bamboo. The aver-
age longitudinal compressive strength of bamboo in cylindrical
section was 32.79 MPa.
Only a few studies focused on the transverse mechanical prop-
erties of bamboo by different methods available in the literature
[6–9]. The appropriate test methods to determine the transverse
mechanical properties of bamboo is still open to future investiga-
tion. A simple and efficient test arrangement including a test appa-
ratus using bamboo rings was developed to determine the
transverse mechanical properties of bamboo in this paper. The
details of the test apparatus are illustrated in Fig. 7(a). Three bam-
boo ring specimens were tested in tension perpendicular to the
bamboo fibres at a constant rate of 0.2 mm/min to obtain the
transverse mechanical properties of bamboo, shown in Fig. 7(b).
from the same batch of the horizontal stiffener and steel reinforce-
ment. The average yield strength and elastic modulus were respec-
tively: 456.54 MPa and 200 GPa for 12 mm diameter longitudinal
rebar; 444.23 MPa and 200 GPa for 6 mm diameter longitudinal
rebar; 203.24 MPa and 200 GPa for the stirrups; 304.12 MPa and
200 GPa for the horizontal stiffener.
15000 2.3. Instrumentation and testing
For each specimen, four hoop strain gauges and four vertical
strain gauges were respectively placed on the exterior of bamboo
at the mid-height, indicated in Fig. 9. Four linear variable differen-
tial transducers (LVDTs) placed 90° apart from each other, also
shown in Fig. 9, were installed between the top and bottom of
the specimen to monitor the axial deformation.
All the specimens were tested under a 10,000 KN Universal
Loading Machine with displacement control at a constant rate of
0.1 mm/min, aiming at a detailed observation of the course of fail-
ure. All test data were collected with a data logger.
3. Experimental results and discussion
3.1. General observations and failure modes
It was observed that both concrete-filled bamboo specimens
and cement mortar filled bamboo specimens exhibited higher ulti-
mate bearing capacity compared with conventional bamboo spec-
imens. The bearing capacity of structural bamboo can be
significantly increased by filling concrete or cement mortar in
bamboo cavity, which preliminarily verified the feasibility of the
278 W.-T. Li et al. / Construction and Building Materials 148 (2017) 273–287

Strain gauge
D

45¡ ã
45¡ ã
90¡ã

t
t
Test apparatus Bamboo ring specimen

Tensile

(a) Tension apparatus and bamboo ring specimen (b) Test setup

(c) Failure mode of bamboo ring specimen

Fig. 7. Transverse tensile test on bamboo ring.

10 tar, indicating that the composite effect of bamboo and the infilled
Specimen 1
material (concrete and cement mortar) is significant.
Specimen 2
The failure modes of the specimens are illustrated in Fig. 10.
8 Specimen 3
Two typical failure modes of bamboo, i.e. Splitting (Fig. 10(a))
and End bearing (Fig. 10(b)), can be identified. It was found that
Stress (MPa)

6 most specimens including all concrete-filled bamboo specimens

and cement mortar filled bamboo specimens failed in the mode
of splitting. Furthermore, the occurrence of the bamboo splitting
4
was delayed for the concrete-filled bamboo specimens and cement
mortar filled bamboo specimens due to the existence of the node
2 or the stiffener. Only two conventional bamboo specimens (S3
and S10), which are with both the node and the stiffener, failed
0 in the mode of end bearing. Hence, the node and the stiffener have
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 little influence on the failure mode of structural bamboo filled with
strain (με) concrete and cement mortar. However, the node and the stiffener
may influence the failure mode of the conventional bamboo.
Fig. 8. Stress-strain curves of circumferential tensile test. The failure modes of in-filled concrete and in-filled cement
mortar are respectively shown Fig. 11(a) and (b), after removing
the covering bamboo. As shown in Fig. 11, both in-filled concrete
proposed stiffening scheme. Furthermore, both concrete-filled and in-filled cement mortar were crushed, showing that the
bamboo specimens and cement mortar filled bamboo specimens strength of infilled material was fully utilized. In addition, the fail-
showed better ductility than the plain concrete and cement mor- ure modes of longitudinal steel reinforcement in specimen S6 and
 W.-T. Li et al. / Construction and Building Materials 148 (2017) 273–287 279

Axial load

Transducer

1
(a) Infilled concrete (b) Infilled cement mortar
Bamboo
2 Fig. 11. Infilled materials after test.

3
Strain gauge to measure vertical strain
Strain gauge to measure hoop strain
Transducer
Fig. 9. Test setup and instrumentation.

(a) Longitudinal reinforcement (b) Longitudinal reinforcement

without stirrups with stirrups
Fig. 12. Longitudinal steel reinforcement after test.

3.2. Ultimate bearing capacity and confining effects of bamboo

(a) Splitting (b) End bearing
Fig. 10. Failure modes of specimens.
S8 are respectively shown Fig. 12(a) and (b), after removing the
covering bamboo and concrete. The longitudinal reinforcement
buckled for the specimen without stirrups while longitudinal rein-
forcement did not buckle for the specimen with stirrups, indicating
the strength of the longitudinal reinforcement in the concrete-
filled bamboo specimens without stirrups may not be fully utilized.
The key test results including the ultimate axial bearing capac-
ity Nue, the axial strain corresponding to the ultimate axial bearing
capacity ecc and the hoop strain corresponding to the ultimate axial
bearing capacity eho are listed in Table 2. Furthermore, the ratios of
the ultimate axial bearing capacity of concrete-filled bamboo spec-
imens and cement mortar filled bamboo specimens to that of the
corresponding conventional bamboo specimens in the same size
(Nue/Nueb) are also listed in Table 2. The ultimate axial bearing
capacity of the specimens with the diameter of 150 mm are com-
pared with that of specimen S1 while the ultimate axial bearing
capacity of the specimens with the diameter of 100 mm are com-
pared with that of specimen S9. As listed in Table 2, the ultimate
axial load bearing capacities of both concrete-filled bamboo speci-
mens and cement mortar filled bamboo specimens are much
higher than that of the corresponding conventional bamboo. It
was found that the ultimate bearing capacity can be increased by
at least 226% for concrete-filled bamboo specimens and by at least
86% for cement mortar filled bamboo specimens, which verified
the feasibility of the proposed stiffening scheme. Furthermore, it
280 W.-T. Li et al. / Construction and Building Materials 148 (2017) 273–287

Table 2
Test results and comparison of test results with calculated results.

Specimen ecc eoh Nue (kN) Nue/Nueb Nuc (kN) Nuc/Nue l

S1 0.00511 0.00024 110.31 1.00 107.76 0.98 –
S2 0.00437 0.00037 530.78 4.81 538.75 1.02 2.08
S3 0.00506 0.00026 104.07 0.94 107.76 1.04 –
S4 0.00342 0.00118 550.87 4.99 551.26 1.00 1.63
S5 0.00471 0.00098 560.21 5.08 551.26 0.98 2.24
S6 0.00357 0.00044 566.53 5.14 584.46 1.03 1.7
S7 0.00266 0.00035 288.65 2.62 299.14 1.04 1.16
S8 0.00599 0.00094 580.31 5.26 590.32 1.02 2.85
S9 0.00802 0.00118 91.90 1.00 91.71 1.00 –
S10 0.00733 0.00084 112.99 1.23 110.89 0.98 –
S11 0.01438 0.00099 107.90 1.17 101.33 0.94 –
S12 0.00458 0.00060 344.48 3.75 341.50 0.99 2.18
S13 0.00352 0.00018 326.25 3.55 322.31 0.99 1.68
S14 0.00540 0.00057 299.78 3.26 341.50 1.14 2.57
S15 0.00605 0.00064 339.19 3.69 356.12 1.05 2.88
S16 0.00406 0.00017 392.37 4.27 366.11 0.93 1.93
S17 0.00450 0.00069 351.11 3.82 385.30 1.10 2.14
S18 0.00328 0.00031 171.44 1.86 183.93 1.07 1.43
S19 0.00296 0.00037 210.14 2.29 203.11 0.97 1.29
Mean 1.013
COV 0.0025

is more efficient to increase the bearing capacity by filling concrete
than filling cement mortar in bamboo cavity. In addition, it is
shown that the longitudinal steel ratio only has a slight influence
on the ultimate bearing capacity through comparison of the ulti-
mate bearing capacities between specimen S4, S6 and S8.
To investigate the confining effects of bamboo on the infilled
material, the experimental ultimate bearing capacities of both
concrete-filled bamboo specimens and cement mortar filled bam-
boo specimens were compared with a simple summation of the
bamboo and the infilled material contributions, indicating that
the experimental ultimate bearing capacities (Nue) are generally
higher than the calculated values by a simple summation of the
bamboo and the infilled material contributions. The corresponding
comparisons for typical specimens S13 and S18 are illustrated in
Fig. 13. The experimental ultimate bearing capacities (Nue) of spec-
imens S13 and S18 are respectively 19.4% and 12.4% higher than
the corresponding calculated values by the simple summation. As
a result, the confining effects of bamboo on the infilled material
are significant, which should be carefully taken into account in
the prediction of the ultimate bearing capacity of both concrete-
filled bamboo columns and cement mortar filled bamboo columns.
400
Nue
300 Nbamboo+Nconcrete
Axial load (kN)
3.3. Load-axial strain behavior and the effects of test parameters on
the axial load behavior
3.3.1. General
The axial load-axial strain curves of 19 specimens are shown
separately in Fig. 14. For clarity, the axial load-axial strain curves
are rearranged based on the varying test parameters to investigate
the effects of the parameters on the axial load behavior of the spec-
imens, shown in Fig. 15, Fig. 16 and Fig. 17, respectively. The dis-
cussions on the effects of the infilled materials, the bamboo node
and the horizontal stiffener on the axial load behavior of the spec-
imens are respectively detailed in Sections 3.3.2–3.3.4.
3.3.2. Effect of the infilled materials
The effect of the infilled materials on the axial load behavior of
the specimens is indicated in Fig. 15. As shown in Fig. 15(a) and (b),
the ultimate axial bearing capacities and the initial stiffness of both
concrete-filled bamboo specimens and cement mortar filled bam-
boo specimens are much higher than those of the conventional
bamboo specimens. Furthermore, the initial stiffness of concrete-
filled bamboo specimens is slightly higher than that of cement
mortar filled bamboo specimens. In addition, the axial strain corre-
sponding to the ultimate axial bearing capacity (ecc) of concrete-
filled bamboo specimens is also higher than that of cement mortar
filled bamboo specimens, showing that concrete-filled bamboo
specimens have better ductility than cement mortar filled bamboo
specimens. Furthermore, it was found that ecc increases with the
increase of longitudinal steel ratios through the comparison
between specimen S4, S6 and S8 (Fig. 15(a)). The initial ascending
branches of the load-axial strain curves of specimens S4, S6 and S8
are almost the same when the axial strain is less than 0.15%. How-

ever, the ascending branches of specimens S4, S6 and S8 becomes

Nconcrete different due to the different longitudinal steel ratios of the speci-
200 Nue
Nbamboo+Nmortar mens when the axial strain is higher than 0.15%. Besides, the
descending branches of the load-axial strain curves of specimens
Nbamboo N
Nbamboomortar S4, S6 and S8 are also different due to the different longitudinal
100
steel ratios. The specimen with relatively high longitudinal steel
ratio (i.e. specimen S8) shows better post-ultimate capacity behav-
ior while the specimen with relatively low longitudinal steel ratio
0
S13 S18 (i.e. specimen S6) shows almost the same post-ultimate capacity
behavior as the specimen without longitudinal steel (i.e. specimen
Fig. 13. Comparison between Nue and calculated values by the simple summation. S4).
 W.-T. Li et al. / Construction and Building Materials 148 (2017) 273–287 281

150 600 150

Axial load (kN)

Axial load (kN)

400
Axial load (kN)

100 100

50 200 50

0 0 0
0 20000 40000 60000 0 5000 10000 15000 0 20000 40000 60000
Axial strain (με) Axial strain (με) Axial strain (με)
(a) Specimen S1 (b) Specimen S2 (c) Specimen S3
600 600
600
Axial load (kN)

400
Axial load (kN)

400

Axial load (kN)

400

200 200
200

0 0 0
0 5000 10000 15000 0 10000 20000 30000 0 5000 10000 15000

Axial strain (με) Axial strain (με) Axial strain (με)

(d) Specimen S4 (e) Specimen S5 (f) Specimen S6

400 600 150

300
Axial load (kN)

Axial load (kN)

Axial load (kN)

400 100

200

200 50
100

0 0 0
0 10000 20000 30000 0 10000 20000 30000 0 20000 40000 60000
Axial strain (με) Axial strain (με) Axial strain (με)
(g) Specimen S7 (h) Specimen S8 (i) Specimen S9

150 150 400

300
Axial load (kN)

Axial load (kN)

Axial load (kN)

100 100

200

50 50
100

0 0 0
0 20000 40000 60000 0 20000 40000 60000 0 10000 20000 30000
Axial strain (με) Axial strain (με) Axial strain (με)
(j) Specimen S10 (k) Specimen S11 (l) Specimen S12
Fig. 14. Axial load-axial strain curves of specimens.

In particular, ecc of concrete-filled bamboo specimen S8 3.3.3. Effect of the bamboo node
(ecc = 0.00599) is even greater than that of conventional bamboo The effect of the bamboo node on the axial load behavior of the
specimen S1 (ecc = 0.00511), indicating that higher peak strains specimens is shown in Fig. 16. As shown in Fig. 16(a), (b) and (c),
(ecc) can be obtained for concrete-filled bamboo specimens with the beneficial effect of the node on the ultimate bearing capacity
relatively high longitudinal steel ratios compared with conven- can be found in both concrete-filled bamboo specimens and
tional bamboo. cement mortar filled bamboo specimens. The ultimate bearing
282 W.-T. Li et al. / Construction and Building Materials 148 (2017) 273–287

400 400 400

300 300 300

Axial load (kN)

Axial load (kN)

Axial load (kN)

200 200 200

100 100 100

0 0 0
0 10000 20000 30000 0 10000 20000 30000 0 10000 20000 30000
Axial strain (με) Axial strain (με) Axial strain (με)

(m) Specimen S13 (n) Specimen S14 (o) Specimen S15

400 400 400

300 300 300

Axial load (kN)

Axial load (kN)

Axial load (kN)

200 200 200

100 100 100

0 0 0
0 10000 20000 30000 0 10000 20000 30000 0 10000 20000 30000
Axial strain (με) Axial strain (με) Axial strain (με)

(p) Specimen S16 (q) Specimen S17 (r) Specimen S18

400

300
Axial load (kN)

200

100

0
0 10000 20000 30000
Axial strain (με)

(s) Specimen S19

Fig. 14 (continued)

600 600 S9 (Bamboo)

S1 (Bamboo)
S4 (Concrete filled bamboo) S13 (Concrete filled bamboo)
S6 (Concrete filled bamboo with one steel bar) S16 (Concrete filled bamboo with one steel bar)
S7 (Cement mortar filled bamboo) S18 (Cement mortar filled bamboo)
400 S8 (Reinforced concrete filled bamboo) 400
Axial load (kN)

Axial load (kN)

200 200

0 0
0 10000 20000 30000 0 10000 20000 30000
Axial strain (με) Axial strain (με)
(a) D=150mm (b) D=100mm
Fig. 15. Effect of infilled materials on axial load-axial strain curves.
 W.-T. Li et al. / Construction and Building Materials 148 (2017) 273–287 283

600 600 S12 (With node)

S2 (Without node)
S4 (With node) S13 (Without node)

400 400
Axial load (kN)

Axial load (kN)

200 200

0 0
0 10000 20000 30000 0 10000 20000 30000
Axial strain (με) Axial strain (με)

(a) D=150mm(concrete infilled, without stiffener) (b) D=100mm(concrete infilled, without stiffener)

600 S18 (Without node)

600
S14 (With node)
S19 (With node) S15 (Without node)

400 400
Axial load (kN)

Axial load (kN)

200 200

0 0
0 10000 20000 30000 0 10000 20000 30000
Axial strain (με) Axial strain (με)
(c) D=100mm(mortar infilled, without stiffener) (d) D=100mm(concrete infilled, with stiffener)
Fig. 16. Effect of the bamboo node on axial load-axial strain curves.

capacities of specimens with the bamboo node are higher than
those without the node. However, this beneficial effect of the node
cannot be achieved when the horizontal stiffener is arranged pass-
ing through the node, illustrated in Fig. 16(d). The node with the
horizontal stiffener passing through may result in a slight decease
in the ultimate bearing capacities of concrete-filled bamboo col-
umns indicating that the integrity of the node is essential for the
bearing capacities of concrete-filled bamboo columns.
3.3.4. Effect of the horizontal stiffener
The effect of the horizontal stiffener on the axial load behavior
of the specimens is shown in Fig. 17. As illustrated in Fig. 17
(a) and (b), the horizontal stiffener passing through bamboo
internode has a beneficial influence on both the ultimate bearing
capacities and the corresponding axial strains of concrete-filled
bamboo columns and conventional bamboo columns. However,
the horizontal stiffener passing through the node may result in a
decease in the bearing capacities of concrete-filled bamboo col-
umns and conventional bamboo columns, indicated in Fig. 17
(c) and (d). It shows again that the integrity of the node is essential
for the bearing capacities of concrete-filled bamboo columns and
conventional bamboo columns.
Furthermore, the comparison of the axial load behavior
between specimen S12 (i.e. concrete-filled bamboo specimen with
the node and without stiffener), S14 (i.e. concrete-filled bamboo
specimen with stiffener passing through the node) and S15 (i.e.
concrete-filled bamboo specimen with stiffener passing through
internode) is illustrated in Fig. 18. It was found that the ultimate
bearing capacities of specimen S12 and S15 are almost the same,
indicating that the beneficial effect of the node on the ultimate
bearing capacity is very similar to the beneficial effect of the hori-
zontal stiffener. However, the axial strain corresponding to the
ultimate axial bearing capacity (ecc) of specimen S15 is higher than
that of specimen S12, indicating that the beneficial effect of the
horizontal stiffener on ecc is more significant than that of the bam-
boo node. Besides, the ultimate bearing capacity of specimen S14 is
approximately 13% lower than those of specimens S12 and S15,
showing that the horizontal stiffener passing through the node
may result in a decease in the ultimate bearing capacity. These
important findings above should be carefully taken into account
in the design of the horizontal stiffeners used for both conventional
structural bamboo members and those filled with concrete and
cement mortar.
3.4. Ductility of structural bamboo filled with concrete or mortar
The ductility of columns can be often evaluated by two different
methods [27,28]. One method was proposed by Usami and Ge [29],
defined as
l1 ¼ du =dy ¼ eu =ey ð1Þ
where du and eu are respectively the displacement and strain corre-
sponding to the ultimate strength; dy and ey are respectively the dis-
placement and strain at first yield or local buckling. Since the yield
point could not be evident, the yield strain ey was taken as 0.2% as
suggested by Schneider [30]. This method is usually used to evalu-
ate the ductility of concrete-filled steel tube (CFT) columns due to ey
and eu can be easily obtained from axial load behavior of CFT col-
284 W.-T. Li et al. / Construction and Building Materials 148 (2017) 273–287

600 150
S13 (Without horizontal stiffener) S9 (Without horizontal stiffener)
S15 (With horizontal stiffener) S11 (With horizontal stiffener)

100
Axial load (kN)

400

Axial load (kN)

200 50

0 0
0 10000 20000 30000 0 20000 40000 60000
Axial strain (με) Axial strain (με)

(a) D=100mm(concrete infilled, without node) (b) D=100mm(conventional bamboo, without node)
600 150
S12 (Without horizontal stiffener) S1 (Without horizontal stiffener)
S14 (With horizontal stiffener) S3 (With horizontal stiffener)
Axial load (kN)

400

Axial load (kN)

100

200 50

0 0
0 10000 20000 30000 0 20000 40000 60000
Axial strain (με) Axial strain (με)

(c) D=100mm(concrete infilled, with the node) (d) D=150mm(conventional bamboo, with the node)
Fig. 17. Effect of the horizontal stiffener on axial load-axial strain curves.

600 post-ultimate strength behavior so that e85.2 can be easily obtained.

S12 (Without stiffener)
S14 (With stiffener passing through the node)
However, concrete-filled bamboo columns or cement mortar filled
S15 (With stiffener passing through internode) bamboo columns usually fail quickly after reaching the ultimate
bearing capacity due to the splitting of bamboo so that e85.2 cannot
400 be easily obtained for these columns. Hence, the method proposed
Axial load (kN)

by Sun [31] is not suitable for concrete-filled bamboo columns or

cement mortar filled bamboo columns.
Aiming at estimating the ductility of concrete-filled bamboo
200 columns or cement mortar filled bamboo columns, the method
proposed by Usami and Ge [29] is modified to include the effect
of different infilled materials and given by

0 l ¼ ecc =eo ð3Þ

0 10000 2000 0
Axial strain (με)
Fig. 18. Comparison of axial load behavior between specimen S12, S13 and S15.
umns. However, this method may not be appropriate for concrete-
filled bamboo columns or cement mortar filled bamboo columns
due to that these columns do not yield or locally buckle and that
the effect of different infilled materials is excluded from the
method.
Another method to estimate ductility was based on the criterion
proposed by Sun [31], defined as
l2 ¼ e85:2 =e85:1
where e85.1 and e85.2 are respectively the strains corresponding to
the 85% ultimate strength of columns measured before and after
ultimate strength was reached. This method is also used to evaluate
the ductility of CFT columns due to that CFT columns have good
30000
where ecc is axial strain corresponding to the ultimate axial bearing
capacity of the columns; eo is axial strain corresponding to cylinder
strength of infilled materials (concrete or cement mortar).
The calculated ductility ratios l of concrete-filled bamboo spec-
imens and cement mortar filled bamboo specimens by the pro-
posed method i.e. Eq. (3) are listed in Table 2. As listed in
Table 2, both concrete-filled bamboo specimens and cement mor-
tar filled bamboo specimens show better ductility than the plain
concrete and cement mortar, indicating that the composite effect
of bamboo and the infilled material (concrete and cement mortar)
is significant. Furthermore, the ductility ratios l of typical speci-
mens infilled with different materials are illustrated in Fig. 19.
The ductility ratios l of concrete-filled bamboo specimens are
ð2Þ higher than those of cement mortar filled bamboo specimens. Fur-
thermore, the ductility ratio l of concrete-filled bamboo speci-
mens increases with the increase of longitudinal steel ratios.
Hence, the ductility of concrete-filled bamboo columns can be
improved to some extent by increasing the longitudinal steel
ratios.
 W.-T. Li et al. / Construction and Building Materials 148 (2017) 273–287 285

S4 (Concrete filled bamboo)

Bamboo
S6 (Concrete filled bamboo with one steel bar)
S7 (Cement mortar filled bamboo)
f bh.t
S8 (Reinforced concrete filled bamboo)
S13 (Concrete filled bamboo)
S16 (Concrete filled bamboo with one steel bar)
3 S18 (Cement mortar filled bamboo)

f 'l

D
t
2

f bh.t
μ

1
Fig. 20. Lateral confining stress on the infilled material provided by bamboo.

stress f0 l on the infilled material (concrete or cement mortar) can

result from Fig. 20 according to the equilibrium of forces as follows
0 0
f l ðD  2tÞ  2f bh  t ¼ 0 ð5Þ
D=150 mm D=100 mm
where fbh and t are respectively circumferential tensile strength of
Fig. 19. Ductility ratios l of specimens filled with different materials.
bamboo and wall thickness of bamboo.
From Eq. (5), the lateral confining stress f0 l is given by
4. Prediction of ultimate bearing capacity 0 2f bh
fl ¼ ð6Þ
D=t  2
4.1. Proposed formula for calculating the ultimate bearing capacity
To determine the longitudinal compressive strength f0 cc of the
infilled concrete confined by the bamboo, a failure criterion for
Based on the experimental study in this paper, the confining
concrete under triaxial compression suggested by Mander et al.
effects of bamboo on the infilled material (concrete or cement mor-
[32] is employed and given by
tar) are significant and cannot be ignored. Hence, a simple and effi-
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi !
cient method including the confining effects of bamboo was f
0
f
0
0 0
proposed for predicting the ultimate bearing capacity of both f cc ¼ fc 2:254 1 þ 7:94 0l  2 0l  1:254 ð7Þ
fc fc
concrete-filled bamboo columns and cement mortar filled bamboo
columns. In addition, the compressive strength of bamboo in cylin- where f0 c is cylinder strength of concrete .
drical section was adopted as longitudinal compressive strength of Similarly, a failure criterion for cement mortar under triaxial
bamboo to predict the ultimate axial bearing capacity. The formula compression proposed by Nielsen [33] is employed to determine
for calculating the ultimate bearing capacity of both concrete-filled the longitudinal compressive strength f0 cc of the infilled cement
bamboo columns and cement mortar filled bamboo columns is mortar confined by the bamboo and given by
expressed as ( 0 0
0 f m þ 3f l 0 0
Nuc ¼ a1 a2 ða
0
 Ab þ
0
 Acc þ a3 f y  As Þ ð4Þ f cc ¼ min ð0 < f l < 1:5f m Þ ð8Þ
n f bc f cc 0
1:5f m þ fl
0

where f0 cc and Acc are respectively longitudinal compressive where f0 m is cylinder strength of cement mortar.
strength of infilled material confined by the bamboo and cross-
sectional area of infilled material; f0 bc is longitudinal compressive 4.2.2. Determination of an, a1, a2 and a3
strength of bamboo i.e. compressive strength of bamboo in cylindri- Based on the experimental study in this paper, the bamboo
cal section with the diameter of 100 mm; Ab is cross-sectional area node as a key component of bamboo has a significant effect on
of bamboo; fy and As are respectively yield strength of longitudinal the ultimate bearing capacity of conventional structural bamboo
steel reinforcement and cross-sectional area of longitudinal steel and structural bamboo filled with concrete or cement mortar. A
reinforcement; an, a1, a2 and a3 are respectively the node effect node effect coefficient an is proposed to consider the effect of the
coefficient, the stiffener effect coefficient, the size effect coefficient node on the ultimate bearing capacity as follows.
and the strength reduction coefficient for the longitudinal steel
reinforcement due to buckling. The determination of f0 cc, an, a1, a2 an ¼ 1 þ 107:7ðD=tÞ2:7 ð9Þ
and a3 is detailed in Section 4.2. where D and t are respectively the external diameter of bamboo and
wall thickness of bamboo.
4.2. Determination of the parameters Similarly, a stiffener effect coefficient a1 is suggested to esti-
mate the beneficial effect of the horizontal stiffener on the ultimate
4.2.1. Determination of f0 cc bearing capacity as follows.
The infilled material confined by bamboo is under triaxial com- 4f hs Ahs
pression at the ultimate strength. The confining action in both a1 ¼ 1 þ 0 ð10Þ
f bc D2
concrete-filled bamboo columns and cement mortar filled bamboo
columns can be illustrated in Fig. 20. The lateral (radial) confining
286 W.-T. Li et al. / Construction and Building Materials 148 (2017) 273–287
where fhs and Ahs are respectively yield strength of the horizontal
stiffener and cross-sectional area of the horizontal stiffener; f0 bc is
longitudinal compressive strength of bamboo. Based on the experi-
mental study in this paper, it is found that the horizontal stiffener
passing through bamboo internode has a beneficial influence on
the bearing capacities of the specimens in most cases. However,
the horizontal stiffener passing through the node may result in a
decease in the bearing capacity. Hence, it is suggested that the stiff-
ener effect coefficient a1 = 1.0 for the horizontal stiffener passing
through the node i.e. the beneficial effect of the horizontal stiffener
can be ignored in this particular case.
The size effect exits in most engineering materials and can have
a significant effect on the nominal strength of engineering materi-
als such concrete and rock [34–37]. Based on the experimental
observation and the analysis of experiment results in this paper,
the size effect of both conventional structural bamboo and struc-
tural bamboo filled with concrete or cement mortar is significant
and cannot be ignored. Hence, the size effect coefficient a2 is sug-
gested to estimate the size effect of both conventional structural
bamboo and structural bamboo filled with concrete or cement
mortar. From statistical analysis of the experimental results in this
study, an empirical equation for the size effect coefficient a2 is
given as follows.
8  2
< 60 t þ 0:41 ðwith material infilledÞ
 t 2 D=t10:1
D
a2 ¼
: 60  þ 0:41 ðwithout material infilledÞ
D 19:1
ð11Þ
In addition, it was observed that the longitudinal steel rein-
forcement buckled for the specimens without stirrups while the
buckling of the longitudinal steel reinforcement did not occur for
the specimen with stirrups, detailed in Section 3.1. Hence, a
strength reduction coefficient a3 is used for the buckled longitudi-
nal steel reinforcement in structural bamboo filled with concrete
or cement mortar. Based on the statistical analysis of the experi-
mental results in this study, the strength reduction coefficient a3
is recommended as 0.85 herein.
The effect coefficients (i.e. an, a1, a2 and a3) discussed above
should be calibrated against more experimental data for further
modification in the future due to that the experimental data are
very limited so far.
4.3. Comparison between predicted and experimental ultimate bearing
capacity
In order to verify the proposed method for calculating the ulti-
mate bearing capacity of structural bamboo filled with concrete or
cement mortar as well as conventional structural bamboo, the cal-
culated ultimate bearing capacity by Eq. (4) are compared with the
experimental results of 19 specimens in this study. The compar-
isons between calculated and experimental ultimate bearing
capacity of the specimens are listed in Table 2 and indicated in
Fig. 21. The predicted results by the proposed method were found
to exhibit good agreement with the experimental results with
mean value and covariance for Nuc/Nue given as 1.013 and
0.0025, respectively. Hence, the proposed method is appropriate
for predicting the ultimate bearing capacity of both concrete-
filled bamboo columns and cement mortar filled bamboo columns.
5. Conclusion and remarks
This paper has presented the first experimental study on the
axial load behavior of structural bamboo filled with concrete and
cement mortar. A total of 19 specimens were tested under axial
compression to ascertain the effects of the infilled materials, the
800
D=150mm
700
D=100mm
600 10%
500
-10%
Nuc (kN)
400
300
200
100
0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800
Nue (kN)
Fig. 21. Comparison of the ultimate bearing capacity calculated by the proposed
method with test results.
bamboo node and the horizontal stiffener on the axial load behav-
ior of the specimens. Based on the experimental results and discus-
sions presented in this paper, the following conclusions can be
drawn.
(1) The axial load bearing capacities and the initial stiffness of
both concrete-filled bamboo columns and cement mortar
filled bamboo columns are much higher than those of con-
ventional bamboo, which verified the feasibility of the pro-
posed stiffening scheme for conventional structural
bamboo. Furthermore, it is more efficient to increase the
axial load behavior by filling concrete than filling cement
mortar.
(2) The experimental ultimate bearing capacities of concrete-
filled bamboo columns and cement mortar filled bamboo
columns are generally higher than the calculated values by
a simple summation of the bamboo and the infilled material
contributions. Hence, the confining effects of bamboo on the
infilled material are significant and cannot be ignored.
(3) All concrete-filled bamboo specimens and cement mortar
filled bamboo specimens failed in the mode of splitting.
The occurrence of the bamboo splitting was delayed for
the specimens with the node or the stiffener due to the exis-
tence of the node or the stiffener. In addition, concrete-filled
bamboo columns have better ductility than cement mortar
filled bamboo columns. Furthermore, the ductility of
concrete-filled bamboo columns can be improved to some
extent by increasing the longitudinal steel ratios.
(4) The beneficial effect of the node on the ultimate bearing
capacity can be found in both material-filled bamboo speci-
mens and conventional specimens, indicating that the integ-
rity of the bamboo node is essential for the bearing
capacities of material-filled bamboo columns and conven-
tional bamboo columns.
(5) The horizontal stiffener passing through bamboo internode
has a beneficial effect on both the ultimate bearing capaci-
ties and the corresponding axial strains of material-filled
bamboo columns and conventional bamboo. However, the
horizontal stiffener passing through the node may result in
a decease in the bearing capacities of these columns.
(6) The proposed method is appropriate for predicting the ulti-
mate bearing capacity of both concrete-filled bamboo col-
umns and cement mortar filled bamboo columns. The
calculated results are generally in good agreement with test
results.
 W.-T. Li et al. / Construction and Building Materials 148 (2017) 273–287
Based on the conclusions above, the feasibility of the proposed
stiffening scheme for the structural bamboo has been verified for
the first time. Despite some achievements of this study, the pro-
posed stiffening scheme in this paper should be calibrated against
more experimental data for further evaluation of the reliability of
the proposed scheme in future. Besides, the behavior of structural
bamboo filled with other constructional materials is still open for
further investigations.
Acknowledgements
This research was funded by the National Natural Sciences
Foundation of China (Grant No. 51008085 and Grant No.
11472084), Guangzhou Pearl River New Star of Science &Technol-
ogy Project (Grant No. 2012J2200100), China Scholarship Council
Foundation (Grant No. 201608440006) and China Postdoctoral
Science Foundation (Grant No. 2012M511810 and No.
2014T70807). The support is greatly appreciated.
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