Bam Bu Bridge

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Comparative analysis of a sustainable bamboo bridge and a steel bridge
Conference Paper · November 2020
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Fernando Oliveira Tiago da Silva Oliveira

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Fernando Oliveira1 , Tiago Oliveira1
1
Dept. of Civil Engineering, IESB University Center
SGAS Quadra 613/614 Asa Sul, 70200-730, Brası́lia, Brazil
fernando.oliveira.ferreira@outlook.com, tiago.oliveira@iesb.br
Abstract. This paper is concerned with a numerical comparison between a steel bridge and a bamboo bridge,
both designed for pedestrian traffic. For this purpose, an existing steel bridge in Brasilia was considered and later
numerically modeled using the Finite Element Method (FEM). In order to show the efficiency and feasibility of
the bamboo as a structural material, another FEM model was considered changing steel elements with sustainable
bamboo elements. It was demonstrated that both bridges have satisfactory stiffness and load carrying capacity
under the Brazilian standards. Based on the results and the analysis, the sustainable bamboo bridge proved to be
lighter and cheaper than the real steel bridge with equal load carrying capacity.
Keywords: Bamboo Bridge, Steel Bridge, Finite Element Method, Numerical Analysis.
1 Introduction
The economical development of the modern world requires from the construction sector a high demand of
conventional construction materials, such as steel and concrete. Mainly, the steel production process consume
a large amount of energy, generating considerable wastes of water, gas, and residues, which gradually affect the
environment around the world. Xiao et al. [1] argued that the sustainable development has become a major concern
of the international community and the use of renewable materials such as conventional timber and bamboo, which
are environmentally friendly, is an inevitable choice.
Bamboo is a rapidly renewable sustainable resource and has mechanical properties similar to timber. World-
wide, De Flander [2] showed there is a growing interest in the development of bamboo products as a sustainable,
cost effective and ecologically responsible alternative construction material. While the potential of bamboo is
promising, Xiao et al. [1] and Harries et al. [3] showed that the bamboo is not fully used in modern structures,
largely due to the lack of validation based on the theory of mechanics, material science, structural design, and
testing.
The bamboo is a fast-growing type of grass. R. Mali and Datta [4] confirmed that it has high strength to
weight ratio, about six times higher compared to steel; it reaches its optimum strength in 3–4 years and attains
complete maturity in 5 years. It can support both tension and compression parallel to fibers, whereas many other
materials cannot withstand compression loading. However, as presented by Imadi et al. [5], being an organic
material, durability of the material is a drawback for bamboo.
Sharma et al. [6] showed two examples of engineered bamboo: the bamboo scrimber and the laminated
bamboo. Bamboo scrimber, also referred to as strand woven or parallel strand bamboo, consists of crushed fibre
bundles saturated in resin and compressed into a dense block. The process maintains the longitudinal direction
of the bamboo fibres and utilizes the resin matrix to connect the fibre bundles. In contrast, laminated bamboo
maintains both the longitudinal fibres as well as a portion of the original culm matrix. The bamboo culm is split,
planed, processed (bleached or caramelized), laminated and pressed to form the board product. On this paper, the
natural geometry of the bamboo is considered for all applications, except for slabs, as presented by Chung and Yu
[7] and Yu et al. [8].
The connection and bundling of bamboo structures are important since the natural geometry of a single culm,
in most cases, is not enough to carry the entire load imposed on conventional structures. Uthaipattrakoon [9]
presented a bundle of frames, up to 13 culms of 6 cm diameter, using bamboo fiber. Furthermore, Rittironk [10]
studied bundling methods and ideal location of culms, using dowel and rope in the first case, and nuts and bolts in
the second case; where the last obtained a better performance. In all cases, these authors proved that the bundle
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Proceedings of the XLI Ibero-Latin-American Congress on Computational Methods in Engineering, ABMEC.
Foz do Iguaçu/PR, Brazil, November 16-19, 2020
was consolidated in a way that it work as a single element. This paper consider nuts and bolts to bundle bamboo
elements when necessary.
In Brazil, in contrast with many industrialized countries, such as USA and Europe, timber has not been widely
used in bridges and commercial buildings. Although, in the recent year, more complex timber structures are been
studied and designed, as demonstrated by Rosalino [11], using Brazilian and international standards. Developing
and using modern bamboo materials may provide an alternative in bridge and building construction in Brazil,
which is already producing structural bamboo in small quantities.
This paper presents a numerical comparison between an existing steel bridge and a theoretical bamboo bridge,
in order to verify the feasibility of the bamboo as a sustainable structural material and potential for more complex
structures.
2 Steel Bridge
For this study, a pedestrian steel bridge located in the administrative region of Ceilândia, Brasilia – Brazil,
was selected and presented in Fig. 1. The steel bridge sections and spans were obtained after site measurements and
the DNIT [12] (National Department of Transportation Infrastructure) design report. The steel used is the ASTM
Figure 1. Front view of the steel bridge located in Brasilia, Brazil.
A572 Gr50 and three different frame sections are considered: W360x91, W250x32.7 and L 2” 1/4, as presented in
Table 1, where fy is the yield Strength, E is the Young modulus, A is the area, W is the section modulus and I is
the moment of inertia. In addition, the slab section L9.5 is made of the same steel with 9.5 cm thickness.
Table 1. Mechanical and geometrical properties of the steel bridge.
Section fy (MPa) E (GPa) A (cm2 ) Wx (cm3 ) Wy (cm3 ) Ix (cm4 ) Iy (cm4 )

W360x91 350 200 115.9 1515.9 353 26755 4483
W250x32.7 350 200 42.1 382.7 64.8 4973 473
L 2” 1/4 350 200 6.06 4.1 4.1 14.6 14.6
L9.5 350 200 950 /m 1504.17 /m - 7144.79 /m -
The Finite Element Method (FEM) and SAP2000 software was used to build the numerical model of the steel
bridge, considering 537 nodes, 252 shells and 738 frames. The steel sections are represented by three-dimensional
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F. Oliveira, T. Oliveira
frame elements and the slab is represented by shell elements with thin wall. The connection of the slab with the
space truss is made exclusively by the transverse sections, therefore the braces do not receive load from the slab.
Rotation at the ends of the bars has not been released to more accurately represent the condition of the nodes. Only
beam, columns, slab and truss elements will be designed and checked for load carrying capacity on this study,
excluding foundation and connections. Figure 2 show the numerical model used on this analysis.
Figure 2. FEM steel bridge numerical model.
3 Bamboo Bridge
The bamboo bridge is made of Dendrocalamus Giganteus elements with its natural geometry, presented in
Fig. 3, where 30 cm diameter (D) and 2.5 cm and 3.5 cm thickness (tf ) are considered [13, 14]. Beams and
columns are made bundling two culms with nuts and bolts, as show in Fig. 4 and as presented by Rittironk [10],
added every l/3, where l is the element length. The theoretical bamboo used in this work follows the treatment
process presented by Rosalino [11] and Sharma et al. [6]. The bamboo slab is made of Phyllostachys pubescens
scrimber sheets and follow the works Yu et al. [15] and Sharma et al. [6]. Since the Brazilian standards do not
Figure 3. Cross section of bamboo elements. tf is thickness and D is diameter.
contemplate the use of bamboo for structural purposes, the Brazilian structural timber design standard NBR7190
[16] will be used instead [17, 18]. Therefore, the wood coefficient used is Kmod = 0.6, considering permanent
structure, first class wood and Brasilia humidity level. Also, γw = 1.4 for compression, γw = 1.8 for tension and
fk = 0.7 are considered. The material mechanical and geometrical properties are presented in Table 2, where ft is
the Tensile Strength, fc is the Compression Strength (MPa), E is the Young modulus, A is the cross section area,
W is the section modulus and I is the moment of inertia. In addition, the slab section L7.5 is made of bamboo
scrimber sheets with 7.5 cm thickness.
Table 2. Project mechanical and geometrical properties of the bamboo bridge.
Section ft (MPa) fc (MPa) E (GPa) A (cm2 ) Wx (cm3 ) Wy (cm3 ) Ix (cm4 ) Iy (cm4 )

G30 28 16.5 8.4 215.98 1372.4 1372.4 20586.02 20586.02
DG30 28 16.5 8.4 782.77 6105.68 3469.89 183170.46 52048.24
L7.5 32.2 18.6 9 75 /m 937.5 /m - 3515.63 /m -
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Figure 4. Cross section of bundled bamboo elements. tf is thickness and D is diameter.
Once more, the FEM and SAP2000 software was used to build the numerical model of the bamboo bridge,
considering the same elements and procedures presented in section 2. Only beam, columns, slab and truss elements
will be designed and checked for load capacity on this study, excluding foundation and connections. Figure 5 show
the numerical model used on this analysis.
Figure 5. FEM bamboo bridge numerical model.
4 Applied loads and load combination
On both models, considering the steel bridge and the bamboo bridge, three different loads were applied: dead
load, live load and wind load. Exceptional loads and temperature were not analyzed on this study [19].
4.1 Self-weight
The self-weight of the structural elements is automatically calculated by SAP2000 software from the specific
weight of the materials, in this case, bamboo with 7.845 kN/m3 , for Dendrocalamus Giganteus, and 6.863 kN/m3 ,
for Phyllostachys pubescens scrimber; and steel with 76.973 kN/m3 .
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4.2 Live Load
According to section 6.1 of ABNT NBR 7188, the live load acting on the slab is 5 kN/m2 . The loading
is applied directly to the shell elements. Since the structure is simply supported, no load shifting is required to
determine the critical position.
4.3 Wind Load
The entire structure is subjected to wind load from major directions (North, South, East and West) and
applied as a concentrated load on model nodes. For each node, the influence area is considered and used for
load concentration. Wind load from different directions will act simultaneously or independently depending on the
load combination presented in subsection 4.4.
4.4 Load Combination
Load combinations following the NBR7188 [19] and DNIT [12] design report are considered on this study,
with a total of 18 combinations. Only the ones involving exceptional and temperature load are not considered.
The structure is designed for ultimate limit state (16 combinations) and service limit state (2 combinations). The
envelope, containing major values from all combinations, will be used this point forward.
5 Numerical results
On this section, the results obtained with the Finite Element Analysis (FEA) are presented in Fig. 6 and 7,
for truss elements; Fig. 8, 9, 10 and 11, for columns; Fig. 12 and 13, for beams; Fig. 14 and 15, for slabs.
Figure 6. Axial forces FEA - Truss elements - Steel Bridge - SAP2000
The envelope of all ultimate limit state load combinations are considered on both models. Only the most
solicited elements are presented and considered for the load capacity verification and design obtained in section 6.
From this analysis, it can be seen that the results obtained with steel bridge elements are about 44.25% greater
than the ones obtained with the bamboo bridge. This difference, due to the self-weight of the elements, is one of
the key advantages of the structural bamboo over traditional materials such as steel.
Moreover, deflection results obtained with the FEA are showed in Fig. 16 and 17 for both bridges. The
envelope of all service limit state load combinations are considered on both models. Only the most solicited
elements are presented and considered for the serviceability limit check and design obtained in section 6.
The analysis show that the highest deflection was obtained in the same element, although the intensity differs.
Bamboo elements obtained lower deflections (12.58%) when compared to steel, even with Young modulus (E)
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Figure 7. Axial forces FEA - Truss elements - Bamboo Bridge - SAP2000
Figure 8. Axial forces FEA - Columns - Steel Bridge - SAP2000
95.8% lower. The smaller deflection greatly contributes to the material feasibility, since it shows that the reduced
load imposed on bamboo elements can compensate for their reduced mechanical properties.
6 Comparative Analysis
On this section, the numerical results obtained with the FEA are considered to check the load carrying capac-
ity of the bamboo elements.
The compression elements on this study are considered short, both for bamboo and steel sections. All calcu-
lations are in agreement with the Brazilian design standard ([20] and [16]).
For tension elements, the tensile strength can be obtained with
Nt
σt = , (1)
A
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Figure 9. Shear forces and bending moments FEA - Columns - Steel Bridge - SAP2000
Figure 10. Axial forces FEA - Columns - Bamboo Bridge - SAP2000
where Nt is the highest tensile axial force obtained in the element and A is the gross cross section area. For
beam elements, the yield strength
Md
σy = , (2)
W
and the shear strength for hollow cylinder elements
4 Vd
τd = , (3)
3A
are considered, where Md and Vd are respectively the highest moment and shear obtained in the element and
W is section modulus. For compression elements, the slenderness ratio can be obtained with
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Figure 11. Shear forces and bending moments FEA - Columns - Bamboo Bridge - SAP2000
Figure 12. Shear forces and bending moments FEA - Beams - Steel Bridge - SAP2000
le
λ= , (4)
r
in which le is the effective length accounting for buckling and r radius of gyration. It is important to highlight
that λ ≤ 40 is the slenderness ratio for short elements and 40 ≤ λ ≤ 80 is the slenderness ratio for medium
elements. Therefore, axial compressive strength can be obtained with
Nc
σc = , (5)
A
where Nc is the highest compressive axial force obtained in the element. Finally, flexure and axial compression
strength ratio is given by
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Figure 13. Shear forces and bending moments FEA - Beams - Bamboo Bridge - SAP2000
Figure 14. Shear forces and bending moments FEA - Slab - Steel Bridge - SAP2000
2
σc σyx σy
σuc = + + y , (6)
fcd fcd fcd
for moments in both directions and cylinder elements, where σuc ≤ 1 must be obtained.
The results obtained with this analysis are presented in Table 3 and 4,
Table 3. Capacity check for bamboo axial elements in the model.
Element σ (MPa) f (MPa) Capacity Check

Truss Tension 2.82 28 0.1
Truss Compression 11.30 16.5 0.68
Column 7.75 16.5 0.47
where it can be seen that the bamboo elements can resist the applied load in all situations. Moreover, the
combined strength ratio σuc for the columns is 0.69 ≤ 1, which is also in accordance with the Brazilian standards.
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Figure 15. Bending moment FEA - Slab - Bamboo Bridge - SAP2000
Figure 16. Deflection (mm) - Steel Bridge - SAP2000
Table 4. Capacity check for bamboo flexural elements in the model.
Element σy (MPa) τd (MPa) Capacity Check

Beam 15.56 0.14 0.94
Slab 10.33 0.17 0.56
The results show that bundled sections were required in order to resist the intensity of the load carried on beams
and columns. Although Tables 1 and 2 show that the required mechanical properties of steel elements are smaller
than the ones required for bamboo elements, the later offers a better strength to mass ratio, which will impact the
final cost. The steel elements are in accordance with DNIT [12] design report and therefore were already checked
for load carrying capacity.
The connection between elements and the bundling of culms are of utmost importance when studying bamboo
structures, nevertheless the complexity required to properly address this issue is not on the scope of this paper and
will be addressed in another research.
Table 5 show the results obtained for the serviceability check
where it can be seen that the bamboo elements are within the service deflection limit in all situations. Even
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Figure 17. Deflection (mm) - Bamboo Bridge - SAP2000
Table 5. Capacity check for bamboo flexural elements in the model.
Element fy (mm) fmax (mm) Capacity Check

Beam 9.9 61.25 0.16
Slab 8.5 85.76 0.10
Column 0.97 8 0.12
though the bamboo has a considerably lower Young modulus (E), the overall deflection is still small when com-
pared to steel, mostly due to bundled beams and the thick slab. The steel elements are in accordance with DNIT
[12] design report and therefore were already checked for serviceability limits.
Lastly, a comparative analysis involving the overall cost was performed for each material. Only beam,
columns, slab and truss elements are considered on this analysis. The element cost is measures though linear
length in meters (m) and Brazilian real (R$). Additionally, nuts and bolts are considered for the bundled elements.
Steel elements, nuts and bolts are very common and easy to find, for that reason the market research was
straightforward and considered well established companies, providing reliable values. For bamboo elements, an
extensive market research was required in order to find the same sections and similar scrimber process. Bundled
sections consider nuts and bolts every l/3, where l is the element length. Since the price greatly varies between
regions and companies established in Brazil, the average price was considered on this study. The treatment process
presented by Rosalino [11] and Sharma et al. [6] is similarly performed by some of these companies and therefore
was included in the final price.
In order to not benefit any third party company, the name of suppliers will not be displayed for any material
or section. Furthermore, for the purpose of this analysis, the overhead cost, workforce cost and overall productivity
are not included since it is beyond the scope of this paper, even though it could greatly impact the design decision.
The results obtained with this analysis are displayed on Tables 6 and 7,
where it can be seen that the steel is 157.94% more expensive than the bamboo.
The bamboo is not a well stablished structural material and it is not industrialized or produced in large scale,
which greatly increases its overall cost. This is more evident when we compare the cost of regular timber sections
(usually 47.65 R$/m) with bamboo sections (189.29 R$/m), for similar mechanical and geometrical properties.
Nevertheless, even when considering the overestimated price of bamboo elements, the material is still cheaper than
steel elements, proving the feasibility as a structural alternative to conventional building materials.
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Table 6. Overall cost of steel bridge elements.
Element Unit cost (R$) length (m) Area (m2 ) Total cost (R$)
W 360x91 534.95 649.94 - 347,685.403
W 250x32,7 199.93 465.4 - 93,047.422
L 2” 1/4 25.51 287.57 - 7,335.9107
L 9.5 490.31 - 881.03 431,977.8193
Overall Cost 880,046.555
Table 7. Overall cost of bamboo bridge elements.
Element Unit cost (R$) length (m) Area (m2 ) Total cost (R$)
B30 250.45 752.97 - 188,581.3365
Double B30 500.9 649.94 - 325,554.946
L 9.5 47.65 - 881.03 41,981.0795
Overall Cost 556,117.362
7 Conclusions
The numerical comparison between a steel bridge and a bamboo bridge, both designed for pedestrian traffic
was performed on this paper. First, an existing steel bridge in Brasilia was considered and numerically modeled
using FEM. The results obtained in this model are in agreement with the Brazilian standards and the bridge design
manual.
Second, another FEM model was considered changing all steel elements with sustainable bamboo elements.
The bamboo Dendrocalamus Giganteus with its natural geometry for truss elements and bundling two culms
with nuts and bolts for beams and columns were considered. Meanwhile the Phyllostachys pubescens scrimber
was considered for slabs. The design procedure closely follows the Brazilian structural timber design standard
NBR7190 [16], similar to international standards.
It was demonstrated that both bridges have satisfactory stiffness and load carrying capacity. For the bamboo
bridge, truss elements were capable of resisting the load just with a single culm, but the bundled sections were
required in order to resist the intensity of the load imposed on beams and columns. Even with considerably lower
Young modulus, the bamboo elements obtained small deflections in all cases.
Finally, a simple cost analysis was performed considering only the material overall cost on beam, columns,
slab and truss elements, in order to check the feasibility of bamboo structures. In the end, steel elements proved
to be 157.94% more expensive than bamboo elements, even when considering overestimated prices. Based on the
results and the analysis, the sustainable bamboo bridge proved to be lighter and cheaper than the real steel bridge
with equal load carrying capacity.
Acknowledgements. The first author acknowledge SigFAP – The Foundation Support Research for the financial
support. The authors also acknowledge the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of IESB Univer-
sity Center, Brası́lia.
Authorship statement. The authors hereby confirm that they are the sole liable persons responsible for the au-
thorship of this work, and that all material that has been herein included as part of the present paper is either the
property (and authorship) of the authors, or has the permission of the owners to be included here.
References
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Engineering, vol. 15.
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[2] De Flander, K., 2005. The role of bamboo in global modernity: from traditional to innovative construction
material. PhD thesis, Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands.
[3] Harries, K. A., Sharma, B., & Richard, M., 2012. Structural use of full culm bamboo: The path to standard-
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tura e Urbanismo, Universidade de Brasilia.
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[16] NBR7190, A., 1997. Projetos de estrutura de madeira. volume 1, Brazilian Association of Technical stan-
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[17] Kaminski, S., Lawrence, A., Trujillo, D., & King, C., 2016a. Structural use of bamboo: Part 3: Design
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Comparative analysis of a sustainable bamboo bridge and a steel bridge

Conference Paper · November 2020

Fernando Oliveira Tiago da Silva Oliveira

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Numerical analysis of bamboo structures View project

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Fernando Oliveira1 , Tiago Oliveira1

Figure 1. Front view of the steel bridge located in Brasilia, Brazil.

Table 1. Mechanical and geometrical properties of the steel bridge.

Section fy (MPa) E (GPa) A (cm2 ) Wx (cm3 ) Wy (cm3 ) Ix (cm4 ) Iy (cm4 )

Figure 2. FEM steel bridge numerical model.

Figure 3. Cross section of bamboo elements. tf is thickness and D is diameter.

Table 2. Project mechanical and geometrical properties of the bamboo bridge.

Section ft (MPa) fc (MPa) E (GPa) A (cm2 ) Wx (cm3 ) Wy (cm3 ) Ix (cm4 ) Iy (cm4 )

Figure 4. Cross section of bundled bamboo elements. tf is thickness and D is diameter.

Figure 5. FEM bamboo bridge numerical model.

4 Applied loads and load combination

4.2 Live Load

4.3 Wind Load

4.4 Load Combination

Figure 6. Axial forces FEA - Truss elements - Steel Bridge - SAP2000

Figure 7. Axial forces FEA - Truss elements - Bamboo Bridge - SAP2000

Figure 8. Axial forces FEA - Columns - Steel Bridge - SAP2000

Figure 10. Axial forces FEA - Columns - Bamboo Bridge - SAP2000

Table 3. Capacity check for bamboo axial elements in the model.

Element σ (MPa) f (MPa) Capacity Check

Figure 15. Bending moment FEA - Slab - Bamboo Bridge - SAP2000

Figure 16. Deflection (mm) - Steel Bridge - SAP2000

Table 4. Capacity check for bamboo flexural elements in the model.

Element σy (MPa) τd (MPa) Capacity Check

Figure 17. Deflection (mm) - Bamboo Bridge - SAP2000

Table 5. Capacity check for bamboo flexural elements in the model.

Element fy (mm) fmax (mm) Capacity Check

Table 6. Overall cost of steel bridge elements.

Table 7. Overall cost of bamboo bridge elements.

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