Materials Today: Proceedings 45 (2021) 1063–1066

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Materials Today: Proceedings

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State of art of review on bamboo reinforced concrete

Kathiravan N. S ⇑, Manojkumar R, Jayakumar P, Kumaraguru J, Jayanthi V
Bannari Amman Institute of Technology, Sathyamangalam 638 401, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Recently, the demonstrable alternative material to conventional material in the construction field becom-
Received 4 November 2019 ing very popular due to global warming issues and environmental issues. Steel is one of the considerable
Received in revised form 2 March 2020 materials in construction which results in an increase in economical and non-renewability. So, it is sug-
Accepted 6 March 2020
gested that an isotropic material called bamboo material as a reinforcement in concrete. Bamboo has a
Available online 7 April 2020
property of fast-growing nature and it has a tensile strength 1.5 times greater than steel which concludes
that the strength properties of concrete has been enhanced by providing bamboo instead of steel. Since
Keywords:
the bamboo used as an alternative for steel, the lifetime of bamboo is a major concern factor and hence it
Bamboo
Reinforcement
is improved by mechanical and chemical treatments. The parametric study shows that the utilization of
Concrete bamboo in reinforced concrete based on their characteristic strength and durability. In this paper, the
Durability performance of bamboo reinforcement and its durability by studying the laboratory findings from the
Treatments available literature are presented.
Ó 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Confer-
ence on Advances in Materials Research – 2019.

1. Strength parameters of bamboo reinforced concrete (BRC) from insects and pesticides. The bond strength is increased by
treating with different chemical coatings, sand blasting, and steel
The construction materials such as steel and concrete used in wire wrapping. They cast cubes and cylinders to find strength
building construction have risen exponentially due to their through pullout test. This paper concludes, the treated bamboo
strength, durability and easy handling. This leads to the increment has achieved the bonding strength 6–16 times than the untreated
in production cost. Meanwhile the harmful emissions like CO2 bamboo.
from the manufacturing process produce the environmental dam-
age. One of the solutions for these problems is to provide the new 1.2. Shear strength
material. Many researchers replace the steel either partially or
completely by natural or synthetic fibre. Amongst all fibres the nat- Weiqi Xing (2019) [3,4] studied about the flexural behavior of
ural fibre bamboo is given more accurate results. Even though bamboo fibre reinforced mortar laminates. They are five different
more research is required to improve its structural behavior when type of adhesive are used, emulsion polymer iso-cyanate (EPI),
it is combined with concrete. In this paper some of the research polyurethane (PUR), melamine- urea formaldehyde (MUF), hybrid
paper is discussed and it is concluded. polymer adhesive(HPA), and polyvinyl lacetate (PVA). The shear
strength of bamboo depends on the two configuration one is lam-
inated bamboo and the other is bamboo scriber (China). The bam-
1.1. Bond strength boo is 3 to 5 years are old and moisture content of the bamboo was
8–12%.The shear strength of bamboo is tested based on the princi-
Pankaj R. Mali (2019) [1,2] discussed improvement in bond ple of EN392. The shear strength and clamping pressure of glue
strength of bamboo with concrete. In this project, two bamboo spe- laminated bamboo is 1.0 MPa and 0.6 MPa respectively. The gen-
cies namely B. arundinaceous and D. strictus were chosen which has eral physical features of bamboo is shown in Fig. 1.
1125kg/m3 and the diameter varies from 50mm to 150mm. The
bamboo culms were used as reinforcement in concrete which is 1.3. Water absorption
treated with chemicals (Boric acid) for 72 h to prevent the bamboo
S.Y. Kute, M.R. Wakchaure (2013) [5] studied about the reduc-
⇑ Corresponding author. tion of water absorption by bamboo significantly without affecting

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.03.159
2214-7853/Ó 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Advances in Materials Research – 2019.
1064 N.S Kathiravan et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 45 (2021) 1063–1066

1.5. Flexural strength

Nathan Schneider, Weichiang Pang and MengzheGu (2014)

[9,10] studied the behavior of flexural and shear reinforcement in
concrete beams. The initial tests like tensile and pullout test were
performed on Moso bamboo to find out the mechanical properties
of bamboo. Three types of beams were casted for shear control,
flexural control and lap splice control and these beams were sub-
jected to monotonic gravity loading in 3- and 4-point bending
tests. The test results indicated that the bamboo stirrups used to
increase the shear capacity and flexural capacity up to 259% and
242% respectively. From the results, the bamboo is an alternative
to steel by allowing high deflections and cracks also providing
warning of impending structural failure.
Wu Yaoa, Zongjin Lib (2003) [11–13] was studied about the
bamboo fibre reinforced cement mortar with laminate. The lami-
nate is a sandwich of reformed bamboo plate, EAA poly bond and
fibre reinforced mortar sheet. The three-point flexural test was
conducted at a loading rate of 0.5 mm/min. The ultimate flexural
stress for the laminate with bamboo on bottom is twice higher
Fig. 1. Physical features of bamboo [3]. than that of laminate with bamboo on the top.

2. Application of bamboo in constructions

bond strength in bamboo reinforced concrete at low cost because
the main disadvantage of Bamboo in concrete is water absorption. The bamboo used in construction for various purposes like wall,
During curing, bamboo has absorbed water and it starts expansion, decorative, bridges and frame etc., the bamboo pavilion located in
which results in radial cracking in concrete. Once curing is stopped, Brazil is shown in Fig. 2.
bamboo started shrinking and loses its contact with the concrete.
This can be overcome by treating the bamboo with some paints 2.1. Bamboo in bridges
such as oil paints, bitumen kerosene mixture paints, readymade
bituminous paints etc..; with the help of these paints bamboo Xiao et al. (2008) [14,15] worked in the construction of modern
has an impervious layer over its surface which protects it from Bridges and submitted the report regarding that. This bridge was
water absorption and this can be done by placing of bamboo inside constructed using Glubam which is prepared by the process of
the water tank for about 24 h. This journal concludes that the finger-jointing sheets, then two coats epoxy adhesive was applied
water absorption gets reduced to 75% at low cost by bituminous on the surface and then it was allowed to pressure hardening for
paints. 24hrs at 150 °C in the IBTCS Laboratory (Hunan University).Six
specimens were tested with the planar dimension of
1.4. Durability 2440*1220*28 mm. The bridge was constructed with the layers
of Glubam, bamboo decks, water proof layer, filled layer and the
Lima H C. et al., (2007) [6,7] analyzed the durability of concrete concrete layer with dimension 1.5 m wide and 10 m long which
using bamboo as reinforcement material. The sample bamboo is tested with a loaded truck. The bridge was certified for satisfying
culms of around 500 numbers, which is a three-year-old, and design load conditions in the year 2007 (Leiyang). To obtain creep
20 m long Dendrocalamus giganteus bamboo obtained from the data, long term loading is applied in the IBTCS Laboratory (Hunan
Cascavel City Zoo (Brazil) were used in this project. The mix pro- University) since December 12,2007.
portion was taken as 1:4.37:4.96:0.70 with the ingredients of
Brazilian type V Portland cement, river sand with a fineness mod- 2.2. Bamboo frame
ulus of 2.1 and coarse aggregate with fineness modulus of 5.79. The
bamboo culms were treated with Calcium Hydroxide (CaOH2) to Elizabeth, S., & Datta, A. K. (2013) [16,17] studied the perfor-
improve the flexibility and durability. From the results, it is con- mance of two storey bamboo structures during an earthquake
cluded that the tensile and it was compared with the RC frame building. The lightweight
Strength of concrete for node bamboo is100MPa and 240 MPa
for without node bamboo and young’s modulus is not affected
due to bamboo.
Hongxia Fang (2012) [8] analyzed the heat treatment and the
improvement of durability of bamboo fibre reinforced composite.
The pre-dried bamboo fibre were fine grained and it is allowed
to pass through 50–60 micron size mesh and it is tested on isother-
mally in 3 h and treated at different temperatures. There are two
types of bamboo namely treated and untreated bamboo were used.
The treated and untreated bamboo fibre has a high density in twin.
The size of bamboo fibre is ‘‘20*100*4.3 span length of bamboo
fibre is 80 mm and mix compression is180 degrees, 20Mpa. As
the result, the chemical treatment of bamboo helps to increase
the durability of bamboo fibre and decreases the water absorptions
of bamboo fibre. Fig. 2. Bamboo structure located in Brazil (Google image).
 N.S Kathiravan et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 45 (2021) 1063–1066 1065

and flexible bamboo used in this project has a capacity to with- 2440  305  50 mm were designed by two methods. In the first
stand 7.5 tons of weight and it has a density vary from 500- method OPC and sand ratio was 1:2 whereas in the second method
to800kg/m3(Brazil). The bamboo grid of size70mm, 100 mm and the cement is replaced by fly ash. To remove the lime water con-
thickness of 15 mm was used to make the model of bamboo struc- tent, the bamboo mat reinforcement was treated by lime water
ture. The structured bamboo has a density of 7.3575kN/m3, modu- and sun dried for about 24 h. An alternate solution of Skidder32
lus of elasticity of 20 GN/m2, Poisson ratio of 0.3 and damping ratio was spread on bamboo surface to enhance the bonding strength
was 0.0152. Two column and beam of bamboo structure were con- between bamboo and concrete and this was added immediately
nected using the steel rod which is inserted in the hole of bamboo after the chemical treatment of bamboo. At optimized solution,
and then it was binded by grouting. To observe the behavior of the panels had better strength than that without fly ash under
bamboo and RC structure under earthquake excitation, EI–Centro the maximum load of 5kN.
earthquake and Kobe earthquake excitation data were given as Y. Xiao (2015) [21] studied the performance of lightweight
input. From the results it is clearly seen that the bamboo structure wooden frame shear wall with plywood seating. In this paper
produces lesser frequency and hence it is proved that the bamboo twenty shear wall of five different types of sizes like spiral and sta-
was an efficient earthquake resistant building material. ple were used to determine the ductility properties. The top of the
Suresh Bhalla (2017) [18,19] studied the development of bam- shear wall was 12 mm threaded in steel and is used to distribute
boo in pre- engineered structures according to their strength prop- the load on beam. The shear walls tested under the monotonic
erties. Dendrocalamus strictus bamboo was available in the form of and cyclic loading. The load can be applied on the wall at a strain
black and red and it is chosen for the project, which has 3–4 years rate of 7.5 to 6 mm/min. The yield strength of spiral shear wall
matured bamboo and has 25 m long culms. The compressive and comparatively larger than the stapler shear wall. Due to the high
tensile strength of bamboo were 63 MPa, (red) 44 MPa and ductility properties of bamboo it is concluded that the ply bamboo
76 MPa (black), 62 MPa (red). They built up beams and columns shear wall is used in the residential building structure to withstand
by half-split bamboo battens using steel fasteners. Pre- the seismic load, wind load.
engineered structures are developing by the fiber reinforced com-
posite members (FRCP) and these members are connected in a rigid
2.4. Fibre reinforced bamboo concrete
portal frame with the help of steel bars and epoxy concrete. These
structures are tested for combined loads and lateral loads at Trinity
GuiqiuHuang, Zhen Huang, Xueyuan Deng , Jing Jiang (2012)
College, University of Dublin. This paper concludes that a scientific
[22,23] investigated about the compressive strength, tensile
methodology has been developed on multi-storey buildings by
strength and bending strength of Carbon Fibre Polymer Reinforced
available bamboo species in India.
Bamboos(CFPRB). The 3 years old Zhu type of air dried about
3 months bamboo specimen was used in this investigation. To cal-
2.3. Bamboo in building walls culate the tensile strength of bamboo the bamboo test specimen
was cutoff in the form of I section for a length of 280 mm. The aver-
Chakrabortty (2017) [20] studied the behaviour of bamboo pre- age tensile strength of six specimens was found to be 179. 6Mpa.
fabricated reinforced wall under the load.Six wall panel of size The bamboo strips not larger than 20 mm was prepared for

Table 1
Chemical treatments of bamboo.

S. Authors Variety of bamboo Treatment Paramet ERS discussed

no
1 Bhavanasharma, Darshil U. Laminated bamboo, Hemi cellulose Bleaching and Caramelisation Fracture and crack propagation is
Shah [24] bamboo, mo so bamboo large, durability increases
2 AdesnaFatrawana, Dendrocalamusasper Steam treatment, Steam + washing with Bending ability increases, satisfy
SenaMaulana [25] distilled water Steam + washing with minimum requirement CSA 0437
1%sodium hydroxideSolution (grade 0–1),
3 Prosper, N.K.,Zhang, S., Wu, Phyllostachys Pubescens Impregnation and leaching Impart anti mold properties
H.et al[26]
4 Min jay chung, sheng yang Moso bamboo (phyllostachys Epidermal Peeling Treatment (EPT), Steam High mechanical strength, density
wang [27] PubescensMazel), Makino bamboo HeatingTreatment (SHT) decreases, increase durability
(phyllostachys makinohayata)
5 Yu, H., Pan, X.,Wang, Z. et al. Mosobamboo(phyllostachys Pubescens Air Heat treatment, saturated steamTreatment Prevent photo degradation, reduce
[28] Mazel) lignin content
6 Kun Tsung Lu [29] Ma bamboo (Dendrocalamus latiflorus Hydrogen peroxideTreatment Improved wet ability & adhesion
Munro) coating,
7 Fangfang Zeng, Tianjia Jiang Bamboo shoots UV-Ctreatment, Chilling Enhance proline accumulation and
[30] chilling tolerance
8 Tao Li, Da-li Chenga, Magnus Laminated bamboo Heat treatment with soya bean oil for 2hr Wettability and bonding strength
E.P. Wålinder b, Ding-guo
Zhoua [31]
9 Sri murni muhtar, As’ad Dewi Laminated bamboo adhesive coating, hose-clamp installation increase bond-stress and slip
[32] resistance
10 Chang, S., Wu, J. & Yeh, T[33] Ma bamboo (Dendrocalamus latiflorus Treated with 2% of chromated phosphate (CP) To produce green color
Munro)
11 Cheng, R., Zhang, Q. & Sui, S Ma bamboo (Dendrocalamus latiflorus Softening treatment using NaHCo3(chemical improve the efficiency of softening
[34] Munro) reagent) bamboo
12 Asada, C., Sasaki, Y. & Moso Bamboo high-pressure steam treatment combined with Increases mechanical strength
Nakamura, Y [35] the milling treatment.
13 Chen, H., Zhang, W., Wang, X Bamboo fibres Treat the bamboo with various Increase wettability and thermal
[36] concentrations of NaOH properties
14 Du, G., Sun, Z. & Huang, L [37] (Denddrocalamus brandisi) microwave plasma treatment Surface performance
15 Zhang, Y.M., Yu, Y.L. & Yu, W. Phyllostachys pubescen bamboo Thermal treatment Improve the quality of bamboo
J. [38]
1066 N.S Kathiravan et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 45 (2021) 1063–1066

calculating the compressive strength of compressive strength. The [6] Lima, H.C., Willrich, F.L., Barbosa, N.P., Rosa, M.A., &Cunha, B.S., ‘‘Durability
analysis of bamboo as concrete reinforcement” Materials and Structures,
average compressive strength of CFPRB specimen is with reinforce-
(2007), 41(5), 981–989,41:981.
ment 53.01 MPa and without reinforcement 42.41 MPa. The bend- [7] Moe Moe Thwe, Durability of bamboo-glass fiber reinforced polymer matrix
ing test of each specimen is length 900 mm with the bamboo joints hybrid composites, Compos. Sci. Technol. 63 (3–4) (2003) 375–387.
.The external diameter of bamboo top and bottom not differ more [8] Fang, QianglinWu, YongchenHu, YongleiWang, andXiunan, ‘‘Effect of thermal
treatment on durability of Short Bamboo- Hongxia fibers and Its Reinforced
than 10 mm, specimen support span length 450 mm and loading Composites”, (2012), Vol.14, No.3,436-440.
speed is 1 kN/m2. The average bending test of CFPRB is with rein- [9] Nathan Schneider, Weichiang Pang and MengzheGu, ‘‘Application of Bamboo
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[10] Yoshikata kubojima and Yoko Inokuchi ‘‘Shear moduls of several kinds of
Japanese bamboo obtained by flexural vibration test”, journal of wood
3. Chemical treatments science,56:64-70, (2009).
[11] WuYao, ZongjinLi, ‘‘Flexural behavior of bamboo–fibre- reinforced mortar
The preservation of bamboo is needed for its low resistance to laminates”, cement and concrete research (2003), volume 33, issue 1.
[12] Xinxin Ma and Zehui jiang, ‘‘Flexural creep behavior of bamboo culm in its
biological degrading. Many researchers investigated on the radial direction”, (2016).
improvement in resistance to fungi and termite attack and some [13] ZhiyuanWang and Yang Wei ‘‘Flexural behavior of bamboo-concrete
of the results are tabulated in Table 1. From the comparison it composite beams with perforated steel plate connection”,journal of wood
science,(2020).
shows that the surface treated bamboo enhances the bond
[14] Y. Xiao, Q. Zhou, B. Shan, Design and construction of modern bamboo bridges,
strength, shear strength as well as durability compared to J. Bridge Eng. 15 (5) (2008) 533–541.
untreated bamboo. [15] Luis Yamin and Fernando Ramirez, ‘‘Cyclic Performance of Glued
Laminated Guadua Bamboo-Sheathed Shear Walls”,Journal of Structural
Engineering, Volume 139,Issue11-November (2013).
4. Conclusion [16] Elizabeth, S.&Datta, A.K. Bull Earthquake Eng, ‘‘Seismic performance of
bamboo in concrete” (2013).
[17] Z. Li, T. Li, Y. Xiao, Connections used for cold-formed steel frame shear walls
Since bamboo is known as rapidly grown gigantic grass and sheathed with engineered bamboo panels, J. Constr. Steel Res. 164 (2020).
considered as an effective as well as suitable material to some [18] Bhalla S., West R.P., Bhagat D., Gupta M., Nagpal A,” Pre-engineered Bamboo
Structures”, (2017).
north regions in India. When it is used as a reinforcement material [19] T.S. Paraskeva, E.G. Dimitrakopoulos, Design and experimental verification of
in concrete it imparts strength, durability and Flexibility. From the easily constructible bamboo footbridges for rural areas, Eng. Struct. 143 (2017)
experimental and analytical works done by the researchers shows 540–548.
[20] Pradipta Chakrabortty and Vishal Puri ‘‘Behaviour of Sustainable Prefabricated
that the bamboo possesses low modulus of elasticity. So that it Bamboo Reinforced Wall Panels under Concentrated Load”, International
cannot prevent cracking when it is subjected to ultimate load. On Conference on Sustainable Infrastructure 2017
the other hand, the load carrying capacity is increased because of [21] XiaoF ASCE, ‘‘lateral loading behaviors of light weight wood frame shear wall
with ply bamboo sheathing panels”, Journal of Structural Engineering, (2015),
its flexural strength. On the whole bamboo is suggested as a best,
Volume 141 issue
economical and environment friendly alternative material for steel [22] Guiqiu Huang, Zhen Huang, Xueyuan Deng, Jing Jiang, ‘‘Experimental Study on
in masonry structure. Carbon Fiber Polymer Reinforced Bamboos”, Civil Engineering and Urban
Planning, (2012).
[23] Chun-Pong Liu and Tongxi Yu, ‘‘Laminate of Reformed Bamboo and
CRediT authorship contribution statement Extruded Fiber-Reinforced Cementitious Plate”,Journal of Material in Civil
Engineering ,volume 14,issue, (2002).
[24] Sharma, B., Shah, D.U., Beaugrand, J. et.al., ‘‘Chemical composition of processed
N.S. Kathiravan: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodol- bamboo for structural applications”, (2015), 25:3255.
ogy, Resources, Visualization, Writing - original draft, Writing - [25] Fatrawana, A., Maulana, S., Nawawi, D.S. et al. Eur. J. Wood Prod, 2019
[26] Prosper, N.K., Zhang, S., Wu, H. et.al., ‘‘Enzymatic biocatalyst is of bamboo
review & editing. R. Manojkumar: Conceptualization, Visualiza- chemical constituents to impart anti mold properties”, wood Sci Technol
tion, Writing - review & editing. P. Jayakumar: Writing - original (2018),52:619.
draft, Visualization, Writing - review & editing. J. Kumaraguru: [27] Chung, M.J.&Wang, S.Y. JWoodSci, ‘‘Erratumto:Effects of peeling and steam-
heating treatment on basic properties of two types of bamboo culms” ,
Writing - original draft, Visualization, Writing - review & editing. (2018),64:625.
V. Jayanthi: Methodology, Investigation, Supervision, Visualiza- [28] H. Yu, X. Pan, Z. Wang, et al., Effects of peeling and steam-heating treatment on
tion, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing. mechanical properties and dimensional stability of oriented
Phyllostachysmakinoi and Phyllostachyspubescens scrimber boards, Wood
Sci. Technol. 52 (2018) 1671.
Declaration of Competing Interest [29] Lu, KT. J, ‘‘Effects of hydrogen peroxide treatment on the surface properties and
adhesion of mabamboo”,Wood Sci (2006),52:173.
[30] Fangfang Zeng, Tianjia Jiang, ‘‘Effect of UV-C treatment on modulating anti
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan- oxidative system and proline metabolism of bamboo shoots subjected to
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared chilling stress” Acta Physiol Plant, (2015),37:244.
[31] Tao Li a, Da-li Chenga, Magnus E.P. Walinder b, Ding-guo Zhoua, ‘‘Wettability
to influence the work reported in this paper.
of oil heat-treated bamboo and bonding strength of laminated bamboo board”,
Volume 69, (2015), Pages 15-20.
[32] Sri Murni Muhtar, As’ad Dewi, ‘‘Experimental data from strengthening bamboo
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