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•The study designs, prototypes and experimentally validates bamboo footbridges.•It introduces new low-cost steel-to-(full-culm) bamboo connections.•The proposed footbridges bypass the need for expensive and complex techniques.•The results show that the joints are the critical parts of the examined bridges.•Splitting and sliding are the dominant failure modes of the bamboo connections.
The present study examines a new approach for low-cost footbridges as a remedy to the overwhelming lack of bridges in underprivileged rural areas. The proposed truss footbridges can be rapidly assembled, by non-experienced personnel from pre-fabricated full culm bamboo members and steel gusset plate type connections. This paper addresses the challenges of the design and the construction, and highlights important knowledge gaps in the process. Firstly, it evaluates experimentally the physical and mechanical properties of bamboo culms from two species (namely, Kao Jue and Mao Jue). Then, it develops an analytical model and performs the structural design of the bridge. Importantly, the present study introduces a new three-dimensional gusset plate type truss connection for full culm bamboo members. The proposed connection overcomes the assembly problems due to the non-standardized bamboo geometry. The study also reports the construction of full scale bridge prototypes and their experimental testing. The measured deck deflections under vertical loads are reasonably well captured by the analytical model. However, the bridge collapse is due to a local mode failure peculiar to bamboo; longitudinal splitting. The results reveal that the connections and the associated local failure modes of bamboo, are the most sensitive part of the examined structures, and highlight several directions for further experimental and theoretical research.