The use of bamboo as a structural material in construction has recently become a topic of interest for researchers. Bamboo is a natural resource that is highly renewable, and its manufacturing process demands low energy consumption. Bamboo has excellent mechanical properties making it a promising nonconventional material for construction. However, there is much variation in the size and the material properties of the individual bamboo culms, which have traditionally been used in construction in various regions of the world. In recent years, the bamboo culms have been cut into strips and glued together to form laminae sheets. The laminae sheets are then glued together to form boards, or Glued Laminated Guadua Bamboo. This development has the potential to overcome the abovementioned limitations, and pave the way for the use of bamboo in the construction of structural elements. This paper presents the development of a three dimensional finite element model (FEM) for a bamboo composite I-shaped beam. The I-shaped beam was constructed with boards of Glue Laminated Guadua Bamboo. The flanges and web were connected with a combination of steel bolts and angles. The FEM was compared with experimental data. The deflections predicted by the FEM are in good agreement with the deflections obtained through physical testing. The goal of this research is to develop a tool for further research in the design of sustainable structural elements and their connections. There is a lack of standardization and design criteria for bamboo in construction; this paper presents the possibility for Glue Laminated Guadua Bamboo to be considered in the design of different structural elements. The inclusion of bamboo in the construction industry results in an excellent sustainable alternative for conventional structural materials, such as steel and concrete.
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