Jigar K. Sevalia, Nirav B. Siddhpura, Chetan S. Agrawal, Deep B. Shah, Jai V. Kapadia / International Journal of Engineering Research and Applications (IJERA) ISSN: 2248-9622 www.ijera.com Vol. 3, Issue 2, March -April 2013, pp.1181-1190 1181 | P a g e Study on Bamboo as Reinforcement in Cement Concrete Jigar K. Sevalia*, Nirav B. Siddhpura**, Chetan S. Agrawal**, Deep B. Shah**, Jai V. Kapadia** *(Assistant Professor, Civil Engineering Department, Sarvajanik College of Engineering & Technology, Surat, Gujarat, India,) ** (UG Student, Civil Engineering Department, Sarvajanik College of Engineering & Technology, Surat, Gujarat, India,) ABSTRACT From the early times Bamboo is used as a construction material. The Bamboo is used in both technical as well as non technical ways. Our ancestors used Bamboo in the construction of the houses. The Bamboo was used as the struts, posts, roofs etc in the construction of the houses. Now a day’s concrete are used as the basic materials for the construction works. The concrete is good in compression but weak in the tensile strength. So steel is used as reinforcement in the concrete to achieve the tensile strength. Problems encountered with the commonly used construction material like steel are high in cost, corrosion, etc. Due to the advantageous characteristics of Bamboo, in the last few years, studies have been made on the use of Bamboo as structural material and reinforcement in concrete. The main obstacle for the application of Bamboo as a reinforcement is the lack of sufficient information about its interaction with concrete, strength and durability. This study presents the evaluation of the feasibility of the use of Bamboo as reinforcement in concrete members. In this study the Bamboo was used as a reinforcing material without any treatment and stirrups. Keywords- Bamboo Strips, Concrete, Crack, Flexure Test, Tensile Test 1. INTRODUCTION Bamboos are giant grasses belonging to the family of the Bambusoideae. It is estimated that 60–90 generae of Bamboo exist, encompass approximately 1100–1500 species and there are also about 600 different botanical species of Bamboo in the world. Bamboo mainly grows in tropical and sub-tropical regions of Asia, Latin America and Africa. Bamboo is versatile resource characterized by high strength to weight ratio and ease in working with simple tools. Bamboo is the fastest growing, renewable natural resource known to us. It is a small wonder, therefore, that this material was used for building extensively by our ancestors. It has a long and well established tradition as a building material throughout the tropical and sub-tropical regions. It is used in many forms of construction, particularly, for housing in rural areas. But, enough attention had not been paid towards research and development in Bamboo as had been in the case with other materials of construction including timber [6] . Due to the advantageous characteristics of Bamboo, in the last few years, studies have been made on Bamboo as structural material and reinforcement in concrete. Fikremariam Mengistu Assaminew [1] has conducted the tension test and compression test on the Bamboo specimen. He concluded that the compressive strength of the Bamboo is less than the tensile strength of the Bamboo. The test on the flexural member was also conducted. The result showed that the treated Bamboo shows slightly higher bond strength than untreated. Khosrow Ghavami [2] has described about the test on the beams and columns. He has shown the whole procedure of the beam and column test and its behaviour. He finally concluded that the Bamboo can satisfactorily substitute the steel. The various element produced by Bamboo can very well be used in the construction. Markos Alito [3] mentioned about the physical and the mechanical properties of the Bamboo and its various test. He has presented his study on the test performed on the R.C.C beam reinforced with the Bamboo. The mid span test was performed. He concluded that the Bamboo reinforced concrete design is similar to steel reinforced concrete design if its mechanical properties are properly utilized. Musbau Ajibade Salau [4] has shown his work about the structural strength of the concrete column reinforced with the Bamboo strips. The number of the Bamboo stirrups is varied. The results showed that the load carrying capacity of the column increased with increase in percentage of Bamboo stirrup reinforcement but the increase is not proportional to the percentage of reinforcement. Satjapan Leelatanon, Suthon Srivaro and Nirundorn Matan [5] has stated about the test on the axial force element such as column. Paper shows that the Bamboo was used as the reinforcement in the concrete without any surface treatment. They concluded that for the column reinforced with the Bamboo without any surface treatment, strength capacity was found to be sufficient for carrying the axial load while the ductility was found low. Youngsi Jung [7] has performed the pull out test.