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Bamboo Conference Paper
Bamboo Conference Paper
Bamboo Conference Paper
Abstract
In response to the increasing depletion rate of our natural resources, the design
community is utilizing new and creative construction techniques and materials
for building systems. One such solution is the use of bamboo in long span
trusses. This paper details ongoing research to facilitate practical, low tech,
inexpensive long span bamboo trusses.
This research has developed a new connection that involves filling a portion
of the hollow bamboo with mortar, embedding rebar in that mortar and welding
these bamboo members to steel gusset plates to create a truss. This connection
also allows these trusses to be built cost effectively. Other than the required
welding the construction of these trusses is relatively simple and requires no
skilled labour. This research is currently being considered in the design of a
poly-technical college in the district of Sam in Tanzania which requires roof
trusses of 12m spans.
While bamboo is a viable building material [van der Lugt 1992], it has
limited use because it is difficult to connect the members together. This paper
discusses the development of a new truss connection that can be constructed
using local materials and unskilled labor in remote areas of the world at a low
cost.
While bamboo has been used for centuries, the traditional methods of lashing
bamboo together (See Figure 1) [Bambus 2002] are not appropriate for the
design of long span trusses. First there is little predictability in the connection
for the quality is highly dependent on the laborer. Secondly, quality control is
difficult to obtain. These lashed connections also dont fully utilize the full
strength of bamboo member. Because they rely solely on friction, the load
transfer between members is limited and thus structures require more members
to do the same job that one could if it were well connected. Finally complex
geometries with many members framing into one node or three dimensional
space frames are difficult if not impossible to construct.
Figure 1: Traditional Bamboo Connection
[Bambus 2002]
This research aims to develop a new bamboo connection that overcomes some of
the shortcomings with current connection types that limit implementation in
construction of trusses in developing areas. The following criteria were used in
the development of the new connection. Since bamboo is very strong when
loaded axially [Chung 2002] [Yu 2003] the new connection was developed to
resist only the axial tension and compression forces and not increase resistance
to bending. This is consistent with the loading of the truss in which the truss
members experience axial loads and any bending is small and accidental.
Second, the new connection was to be ecologically friendly and avoid the use of
synthetic materials. The ideology of using a sustainable material such as
bamboo would be undermined if there was extensive use of highly processed
materials in the connection. Highly processed materials were also avoided in an
effort to keep the connection cost effective. The cost effective criterion was
developed due to the limited supply and high cost of building materials such as
steel and concrete in the remote areas were the use of these trusses is being
proposed. Finally the connection must be able to be constructed with a minimal
amount skilled labour. The philosophy behind this is that members of a village
could build these trusses with minimal training and provide safe buildings using
local labour and resources.
The new connection involves embedding a common steel reinforcing bar
(rebar) into a mortar filled bamboo culm and fillet welding several of these
members to a steel gusset plate. The inner surface of the bamboo is roughened
to provide a bond between the mortar and the bamboo while avoiding puncturing
the member. A common steel hose clamp is also placed at the end of the member
to provide confinement of the bamboo and prevent splitting of the bamboo
(Figure 7). Because the rebar is embedded in mortar, the load is transferred
evenly across the members cross section and can transfer high axial loads to the
bamboo. Finally, the incorporation of the steel gusset plate makes the bamboo
easy to connect in any configuration desired (Figure 6).
Next a mortar comprised of sand, water, and cement is mixed and placed in
the hollow ends of the bamboo. It is important that this mix be fluid enough to
flow easily into the small spaces and avoid voids yet be stiff enough to provide
the desired strength. The rebar is then embedded into the mortar and the side of
the bamboo is tapped repeatedly to vibrate the mortar and eliminate any voids.
A hose clamp is then place at the end of the member and the member is allowed
to cure for 28 days. Once cured, the member can be welded to the gusset plate
and the truss erected.
4 Connection Benefits
The main benefits of this connection is its simplicity which results in it being
very cost effective and allows it to be used in remote areas of the world.
Bamboo can be grown in extremely dense groves. A hectare of bamboo can
produce 22 to 44 metric tons of usable members per year, a yield 25 percent
higher than a timber grove. This translates to a 20m x 20m piece of land
producing enough bamboo in a five year period to build two houses measuring
8m x 8m. Because bamboo propagates via its root system it does not require
replanting after harvesting which will provide sustainable plantations [Kries,
2000]. Also, because bamboo species suitable for construction are grown all
around the world it is a locally available material for many locations. This
reduces transportation costs and provides stimulus to local economies. Both its
rapid growth and local availability make bamboo an inexpensive construction
material for many locations worldwide. In addition the developed connection
requires very little of the truss to be made of expensive materials such as steel
and concrete with less than 25 kg of steel including gusset plates and 75 kg of
concrete for a 12m span.
These bamboo trusses can be easily constructed using local unskilled labor.
The cultivation of bamboo requires no new skills, and the mixing of mortar,
preparation of members and the setting of the reinforcement can all be done
assembly line fashion and require only minimal training. Welding is the only
skilled task that the creation of the trusses requires. This is not likely to pose a
problem because welders who can construct the simple fillet welds required in
the connection are available even in remote parts of the world. One example of
this is the East African working in a village outside of Nairobi pictured in Figure
11. The use of welded connections not only provides redundancy and a joining
method that has a measurable quality, but it also provides potential for regular
high paying jobs for welders in the area and the stimulus for technical education.
Figure 11: East African Welder
[Bates 2007]
Finally this connection provides for a strong lightweight truss that can be
prefabricated on the ground and lifted into place much easier than a steel
alternative. This makes construction practices safer and quicker by allowing
most of the work to be done on the ground level and reduce the number of
labourers required to lift the trusses.
The proposed connection was tested in tension (See Figure 15) to determine the
failure method and capacity of the connection. In the first experiment a standard
concrete mix of cement, water, fine aggregate, and coarse aggregate was used.
Specimens were prepared in a variety of ways to improve the bond between the
bamboo and concrete. The stiff mix and large aggregate was very difficult to
consolidate and large voids occurred. The specimens were allowed to cure for
28 days and once tested yielded bond stresses of 87.8 kPa to 527 kPa. These
bond stresses translate to pullout capacities ranging from .40 kN to 2.4 kN.
Several observations were made. First the aggregate size was too large for
the concrete to fill the deformations created. Second, there was a large degree of
splitting that occurred in the bamboo during curing. This occurred because the
hydration of concrete pulled moisture out of the bamboo and caused the inner
diameter to shrink faster than the outer diameter which pulled the bamboo fibers
apart. In addition, when tested the failure mode for the connection was the
splitting of the bamboo and pull out of the concrete from the bamboo. This
suggests that if confinement were to be improved, the connection capacity would
increase.
A second experiment was run to refine some of the issues encountered in the
first experiment. The concrete mix became a mortar of three parts sand, one part
cement, and one part water. While this mix flowed well into the deformations in
the bamboo it was far too wet and pooling occurred. This caused the mortar in
the bamboo to shrink drastically, up to one inch out of six longitudinally. It also
provided a weak mortar. The interior surface of the test specimens were then
prepared in varying ways. Specimens left smooth were denoted with an S in
the specimen name (Figure 12). Those where the inner surface was roughened
with a drill bit are denoted with a DR (Figure 13). Finally those denoted with
an ES had the inner surface coated with epoxy and sand bonded to the epoxy
(Figure 14). The mortar was then poured into the bamboo specimen and rebar
embedded. The specimens were again tested in tension and the pullout
capacities and maximum bond stress between the bamboo and the mortar are
shown below in Table 1.
A final experiment was run to further define the phenomena encountered in the
first two experiments and to determine the peak capacity for this connection.
Again the mortar used was three parts sand to one part cement and just enough
water to make it workable. This provided a mix that was easily consolidated yet
had a relatively high strength. There new specimen types were also included in
this experiment to determine the minimum amount of surface preparation that
would yield acceptable capacities. These included creating four pockets around
the end of the specimen and making two scours (PR Type, Figure 18) or by
only making one scour around the end of the specimen (One Ring Type,
Figure 19). Both of these specimens used hose clamps to provide confinement.
The aim of the last new specimen type was the creation of the largest pullout
capacities. These specimens were created by making deep gouges in the bamboo
and coating the inside with epoxy and sand (DRE Type, Figure 20). The
specimens were allowed to cure and then were tested with the same procedures
as the first two experiments. The results are shown below in Table 2.
Figure 18: Pocket Figure 19: Single Figure 20: Gouged and
Roughened Specimen, Deformation, R_One Epoxyed Specimen,
PR Ring DRE Type
It can be seen that the combination of a stronger mix and the implementation
of hose clamps to provide confinement yielded much higher capacities,
consistently in excess of 4 kN. This translates to a consistent bond stress of over
260 kPa. The benefit of confinement is best shown in specimens DR_2 and
DR_3 in which the specimen had cracked so badly that the concrete no longer
had bond to the bamboo and it could be removed by hand. Even with no positive
connection the friction provided by the hose clamps still yielded maximum bond
stresses of 57.26 kPa and 110.1 kPa. Again the failure mode for almost all of the
specimens was pullout of the mortar. Also the specimens with minimal
deformations yielded similar capacities to the average capacity of the typical
DR type. Finally the DRE type yielded extremely high capacities, in excess
of 20 kN. The addition of four and five hose clamps on each end provided a
high confining pressure. Also the use of sand epoxyed to the inner surface
provided increased surface area for the mortar to bear on while it was resisting
pullout.
These high capacities provide a proof of concept and provide usable design
capacities. The drill roughened specimens without hose clamps provided an
average bond stress of 128 kPa. The drill roughened specimens with hose
clamps developed and average bond stress of 254 kPa. The sand epoxyed
specimens had an average bond stress of 258 kPa. And Finally the DRE type
specimens developed an average bond stress of 1710 kPa. Since the DRE type
specimens failed by rebar pullout, this suggests that the capacity of the
connection was not fully reached. The rebar could simply be embedded further
to allow for a greater capacity. If these bond stresses of the DRE type
connection were to be extrapolated for use in 75-100mm diameter bamboo the
pullout capacity would be approximately 60 kN. This capacity is far greater than
that of the bamboo which will cause ultimate failure in the truss members and
not the connection. This provides a very predictable failure mode which allows
for safe design.
6 Implementation
From Figure 21 we can see that this connection provides for trusses that can
effectively span between 4-15m while keeping the depth below 1.5m. As the
bamboo diameter increases the surface area engaged by the mortar also increased
drastically and the failure mode is buckling of the bamboo. Since the longest
member is 1.5m the bamboo becomes very stiff, especially once the diameter is
increased. This translates in the ability to span significant distances with very
shallow trusses, saving greatly on material.
Currently this design is being considered for the use in roof trusses in the
district of Same in Tanzania to build a polytechnic college. The project calls for
local labour to build classrooms, dormitories, dining halls and other essential
buildings that require clear spans. These spans range anywhere from 6-12m both
of which could be reached with the construction techniques used in this research.
Once proven in Tanzania it would be easier to promote the use of this connection
in other parts of Africa, Eastern Asia, and Central and South America thus
providing same and cost effecting building for local peoples in those areas.
7 Conclusions and Recommendations