REVIEW OF RELATED LITTERATURE

Background and Rationale of the Study

The history of concrete goes back as far as the beginning of human civilizations in ancient times.
But it was’t until more recent centuries that man began reinforcing concrete with rebar and other
metals for construction purposes. The process of reinforcing concrete consists of embedding
steel reinforcing bars, also knows as rebar, in concrete before it sets, in order to support the
concrete from tensile stresses.

A French gardener by name Joseph Monier first invented the reinforced concrete in the year
1849. If not for this reinforced concrete most of the modern buildings would not have been
standing today. Reinforced concrete can be used to produce frames, columns, foundation, beams
etc. Reinforcement material used should have excellent bonding characteristic, high tensile
strength and good thermal compatibility. Reinforcement requires that there shall be smooth
transmission of load from the concrete to the interface between concrete and reinforcement
material and then on to reinforcement material. Thus the concrete and the material reinforced
shall have the same strain.

Since then, the demand of the reinforcing bars had been rapidly increasing to the point that the
demand is much higher than the supply. It is a fact that the construction industry is the main
consumer of energy and materials in most countries. The pursuit of sustainable development,
defined in the Brundtland Report 1987 as “development that meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”, has become a
major issue when trying to meet the challenges in providing proper housing for the ever-
increasing world population. To increase the amount of information concerning bamboo several
successful research programs have been carried out since 1979 at PUC-Rio and in Brazil.
The theoretical use of bamboo as a reinforcing material in non-load bearing and load bearing
members to bring the demand of steel in the market to a minimal level thus reducing carbon
emission and the self-weight of the structure.