Abstract
Creep is one of the most important factors that should be considered during the application of composite materials in modern industry. In this work, bamboo scrimber, a commonly used natural fibre-reinforced composite material manufactured via hot pressing, was investigated to determine its creep property under compressive loading. Its creep evolution history alongside time-varying load history were analysed. In addition, variations of the Kelvin-Voigt model were used to analyse the mechanical constitutive relation of the material. The key finding of this paper is that the creep strain growth behaviour of bamboo crimper mostly depends on the stress level acting on it. Moreover, the VOF (variable-order Caputo fractional) derivative-based Kelvin-Voigt model is more suitable than the traditional model, as it simulates the dynamics of the time-strain relationship of bamboo scrimber at all relevant stress levels. The effect of stress level on the main model parameters was also analysed through detailed function models. These benefits suggest that the proposed model is significantly useful in terms of informing the design and implementation of bamboo scrimber in the real world.