Bamboo concrete bond strength

Abstract

Bamboo reinforced concrete is expected to be an alternative to steel reinforced concrete as a building material. Steel, when used for construction activities, is energy intensive and causes pollution. In this context, the use of bamboo, which is a fast growing, affordable and ecologically friendly solution; especially in a tropical country like India, is being considered as a suitable material for structural applications. It is potentially superior to steel in terms of its weight to strength ratio. However, the bond strength is a major concern for the bamboo to be a reinforcement in structural composites. The goal of this paper is to investigate the bonding properties of a newly developed bamboo-reinforcement composite in concrete, through pull-out tests. Various coatings are applied to the bamboo to determine the different bonding behaviours between the concrete and newly developed BRC. To improve the bonding at interfacial of bamboo concrete composite; easily applicable, adoptable and economical technology have been developed. The results of this study demonstrate that the bamboo-reinforcement composite develops adequate bonding with the concrete matrix with the hope that the newly developed material could contribute, on a large scale, to sustainable development.