Bamboo as a sustanaible material for several city uses
García Prieto, Marián Jove Vidal, Nuria
University of Oviedo University of Oviedo
Escuela Politécnica de Ingeniería Escuela Politécnica de Ingeniería
Gijón, España Gijón, España
marian@uniovi.es
Abstract— Bamboo is a green material. It is an evergreen grass
that is becoming recognized as a viable, sustainable and
engineered alternative to other materials in many areas
worldwide.
Its light weight and high flexibility can be mentioned as main
properties. In addition, bamboo is an eco-friendly material as it
reaches maturity much faster than conventional trees (3-5 years
versus 30-50); and produces more oxygen than the hard wood
trees, so it is of great help in reducing global warming and,
finally, another interesting aspect is that no pesticides or
chemicals are needed for its development.
Structural applications of bamboo are diverse: from flooring to
reinforcement and framing. As the most of the knowledge of
bamboo used for structural purposes is based on cultural
tradition, a new engineering culture should be created so as to
evaluate the non-engineered techniques and develop, accordingly
standards for design and performance assessment.
At Gijon Polytechnic School of Engineering, some design were
analyzed and manufactured so some applications of bamboo in
urban uses can be drawn, such as sustainable urban mobility
(from bikes to electric cars), city furniture, smart buildings and
urban infrastructures, as shelters with photovoltaic panels or
monopiles for eolic energy generators.
Keywords—Bamboo; Sustainable development; Vehicles;
Furniture; Ecodesign; Renovable Energies.
I. INTRODUCTION
Bamboo is a versatile material with excellent physical and
mechanical properties [1] available for multiple purposes
which can be considered as a natural and sustainable option
for new urban uses.
A relevant fact is that bamboo is an evergreen plant in the
grass family: it is a farming resource instead of a forest
resource, like wood. It is a porous material with axially
arranged fibers that causes mechanical and physical properties
to be directionally dependent. Unlike other grasses, such as
corn or sugar cane, its structure is based on a fast growth
process and lignin hardening, which makes it much harder
than wood but also lightweight and flexible. The walls are
made up of 50% cellulose and up to 30% lignin.
Bamboo is an agricultural resource that owns numerous
structural and environmental benefits. It is a raw, easy and
quick to use material, inexpensive in its cultivation and
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maintenance. An interesting feature of bamboo is that its
surface is smooth, clean with an attractive color, so it doesn’t
require painting, scratching or polishing.
It produces 30 per cent more oxygen than a hardwood
forest on the same area, and its extensive root system of
rhizomes is efficient for water retention and accumulation in
the soil. Bamboo is one of the fastest-growing plants on Earth
growing 30 per cent faster than the fastest-growing tree [2].
Due to that speed, it has the ability to reforest areas destroyed
by deforestation and soil erosion more quickly.
Species such as Guadua Angustifolia or Dendrocalamus
Giganteus can grow a metre per day, and get ready for its use
in about 5 or 6 years. It can be productive for a long time, as
the culms or stems that are extracted represent a type of
pruning for the plant. Woody species take between 10 and 20
years to dilate before they can be used. This makes bamboo a
good investment in a very short time and an interesting
solution to avoid deforestation.
Bamboo is a renewable natural resource that can be
harvested throughout the year. Cutting bamboo canes is a
prune. From that same strain new canes will emerge every
year that will maintain the resource always available.
Fig. 1. Bamboo Morphology.
Figure 1 shows some bamboo culms and internal
morphology can be seen. Hollow section is reinforced by
means of some internal walls. The distance between the cross
walls or diaphragms, is call length culm and it varies with the
height of the bamboo bar in the plant. The diaphragms with
similar thickness to that the bar envelop increase the elastic
behavior of bamboo and its serviceability for seismic
buildings as they help the bar to better support some internal
efforts such as bending or compression.
Nowadays, close attention is paid to ecology and the
concept of ecological footprint is becoming noteworthy
whenever a material selection is done.
In order to place bamboo in terms of ecology, Fig. 2 and
Fig. 3 are included, where embodied energies per unit mass
and annual CO2 to atmosphere from its production are shown
[3].
with the Colombian Society of Bamboo and the Colombian
Association of Earthquake Engineering (AIS) are updating
these codes along with ISO22156 and ISO 22157 in order to
transform them into international standards [4] - [5].
III. DESIGN WITH BAMBOO
With circular shape and hollow section, bamboo is a light
material, easy to carry and store; it is a good bearing bending-
compression and tension if appropriate joint designs are made.
The connections of the structural members cannot be
undertaken on the basis of splices. Bamboo structures must be
designed to work as articulated bars and then, their efficiency
is maximum.
If subjected to permanent contact with the soil moisture,
rot and attack of termites and other insects will occur, what
can be prevented by a previous specific treatment.

Dry Bamboo is a highly combustible material; therefore, it

must be coated with a substance or a fire-proof material
whenever it is required.
Table I shows characteristic values for some building
materials [6]. It also contains data of bamboo, what allows a
quick comparison among them.

TABLE I. CHARACTERISTIC VALUES OF SEVERAL BUILDING MATERIALS

Fig.2. Bar chart of the embodied energies of materials per unit mass.
Bamboo S235 Wood Al

II. STANDARDIZATION OF BAMBOO Young’s

2.1010 2,1.1011 9,5.109 7.1010
Modulus [N/m2]
Currently, about 1400 species of bamboo are identified and
distributed throughout the planet with the exception of Europe, Density
where it was introduced as a foreign plant at the end of the 7.000 78.500 9.000 27.000
[N/m3]
nineteenth century. Guadua Angustifolia Kunth and
Thermal
Dendrocalamus Asper is one of the 20 most important species, Expansion 3.10-6 1,2.10-5 4.10-6 2,4.10-5
as it owns the best physical and mechanical properties, Coefficient [ºC-1]
becoming a reference in research studies regarding behavior as Admisible
a natural material and potential uses. Tension Stress 10 235 7,5 120
[MPa]

In order to compare the real properties of bamboo with

other materials, it was considered a hollow circular section
such as the usual in Guadua bamboo, as shown in fig. 4.a.
Identical sections were considered for aluminium and steel
while the wood bar was supposed squared, as shown in fig.
4.b.

Fig.3. Annual CO2 to atmosphere from material production. 40mm 10mm

The use of bamboo throughout history has resided in a

local culture where the plant comes in a natural way, without
it being approved by manufacturing technologies.
Colombian Code for Earthquake Resistant buildings up to
2 storeys is considered in Chapter G-12 of the NSR10.
Nowadays, INBAR (International Network for the
promotion of the use of Bamboo and Rattan) in collaboration
(a) Bamboo, Steel and Al (b) Wood section.60 x 60 mm2
Fig.4. Bamboo, steel, aluminium and wood bar cross-section considered.
Table II shows the results obtained for bars in fig. 4, and
taking into account the characteristic values of table I. Cross
section areas and weight are included, together with maximum
allowable axial and bending efforts [7]. Some calculations constructions, which include bridges, houses and even the flag
were included in relation to its lineal weight. ZERI (Zero Emissions Research and Initiatives) built in 2000
for a Technological Meeting held in Hanover, Germany,
maxima efforts for several materials shown in fig. 5.
Bamb In addition to the applications in its natural form (from
S235 Wood Al
oo furniture and handicrafts to buildings structures) a huge range
15,7.10 of possibilities in the field of pre-industrialization and
Cross section surface [m2] -4 15,7.10-4 36.10-4 15,7.10-4 industrialization exist to obtain extraordinary resistant
structural elements with laminated bamboo and panels to
8,16.10 development prefabricated elements, coatings and partitions.
Inertia modulus [m4] -6 8,16.10-6 10-6 8,16.10-6
There is no doubt about applications as raw material: textiles
Máximum bending
manufacturing and later clothing, paper processing, charcoal
2.720 63.920 270 32.640 and activated carbon production and an essential part in the
moment [kN.m]
manufacturing of composite materials and also medicinal
Maximum axial effort [kN] 15.000 352.500 12.000 180.000 applications.
As seen before bamboo is a versatile material, but
special attention will be paid to the uses related to vehicles and
Weight per unit length
[N/m]
10,5 117,75 32,4 40,5 urban structures, that are drawn in this paper.
At Gijon Polytechnic School of Engineering, as a starting
Maximum bending point, some of these applications have been designed,
259 542,84 8,33 805.92
moment per Weight Unit
analyzed and manufactured. Several Final Projects have been
. developed.
From Table II efficiency of Bamboo is revealed, when It is worth mentioning the case of bicycles, reduced size
compared to Wood. Aluminium and Steel show an exceptional two-seater and urban transport vehicles; as well as support and
behavior, as their admissible stress is really high. Alluminium structure elements to withstand windmills or solar panels, such
is really efficient if weight is taken into account. as renewable energy urban generators.
As tubular section is more suitable for bending and that is why Another interesting case of study is a modular building for
with similar section surface bamboo is more resistant than urban uses that will support photovoltaic panels on its roof.
wood; squared section is worse in bending, as the inertia Fig. 6 shows a very simple bicycle made of bamboo that
modulus is lower. benefits from the light weight and the characteristic flexibility
of this material. It is a simple example of sustainable mobility
in cities.

Fig. 5. ZERI Pavillion in Hannover.

So, table II shows that bamboo and wood have similar
characteristics, whereas bamboo shows a better mechanical
and environmental behavior. Both materials are natural and
considering the advantages of bamboo, it can be concluded
that bamboo can be a good substitute for wood.
IV. BAMBOO URBAN USES
Colombian architect Simon Velez [8] is currently the biggest
exponent in bamboo use as a building material. He has
become a celebrity with his bamboo avant-garde world
Fig. 6. Bike made of Bamboo.
Fig. 7 shows another vehicle designed, analyzed and built
by two students for their Final Project. It consists on a horse
powered carriage, where complex studies were needed: it
involved a deep characterization of local bamboo and an
exhaust study on joints was carried out, as well as several
redesigns looking for a better performance of the material.
 In addition to its natural appearance, the described
possibility of combining the material with renewable sources
of energy seems of interest to preserve the Earth and to
integrate the buildings in natural environments.
Considering the advantages of the material in terms of
mechanical and ecological parameters, no doubt about the
convenience of using bamboo in order to benefit for its
sustainability, some examples in city uses could be small
buildings, monopiles for windmills or simple solutions for
mobility.

Fig. 7. Horse Carriage made of Bamboo.

Some other projects are being developed at the moment

such as the models showed in fig. 8, that are two designs to
support an urban vertical axis windmill generator. Several
heights have been considered in the design.

Fig. 9. Detail of Structure designed by Pablo Alonso for a urban shelter.

ACKNOWLEDGES
The authors would like to thank the students Mauro
Rodriguez, Carlos Blanco, Francisco Aller y Juan García for
the work on their final projects that made possible the
manufacturing of the bamboo bike, the horse carriage and the
building for renovable energy mentioned in this paper.
Also, to Caori Takeuchi and Luis Felipe López for their
continous support on bamboo documentation.
Fig. 8. Designs of monopiles for urban renovable windmills.

Finally, a modular structure for a small city building is showed REFERENCES

in fig. 9. It has been made entirely of bamboo and the roof is
full of solar panels; a building that represents an interesting
advantage due to the reduced ecological footprint and energy
generation.
V. CONCLUSION
Bamboo is a natural resource with interesting properties
that requires standardization to become a qualified building
material.
Because of the multiple applications, its natural origin and
its social, economic and environmental point of view benefits,
bamboo is the basis in engineering, designing and creation of
solutions that contribute to problems reduction arising from
climate change and the development of alternative energy
resources.
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