Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The Colombian
experience
David Trujillo
MSc DIC civil engineer
What is bamboo?
It is a giant grass – part of
the Gramineae family .
It is not a tree!
Anatomy of Bamboo
Nodes and
internodes
No cambium
No bark
Hard skin
No radial fibres at
internodes
It is hollow
Life cycle of bamboo
20 – 25m in 6 months
3-5 years to mature
Sustainable Strong
Cheap Beautiful
Why use bamboo?
Sustainable Strong
Cheap Beautiful
Sustainability
Rapidly renewable natural
resource
CO2 sequestration
Erosion control
Masonry v bamboo
2 storey houses
Sustainable Strong
Cheap Beautiful
Cost
At US$2200 approx
each (of 2001)
US$63/m2
40% larger than
traditional build for
same money
US$95/m2
Note: the masonry
houses are
unrendered and
unplastered.
Why use bamboo?
Sustainable Strong
Cheap Beautiful
Strength
Some call it “the
vegetable steel”
Others call it
“seismically
indifferent”
But is this true?
Mechanical
properties
(for Guadua angustifolia Kunth)
Compression Parallel
to grain
fc.0,k = 28N/mm2
About the same as
C30 Concrete
…but concrete is 4 x
heavier!
Hollow cylinder is 10x
stronger in
compression than a
solid rod
Mechanical
properties
(for Guadua angustifolia Kunth)
2x stronger than
C24 softwood
Similar to Oak
Mechanical properties
(for Guadua angustifolia Kunth)
Shear
fv,k = 4-5N/mm2
2.5x stronger than
C16 softwood
5x stronger than
concrete
Steel is 33 x
stronger
Mechanical properties
(for Guadua angustifolia Kunth)
Compression
perpendicular to
grain
fc,90,k = ?
Mechanical properties
(for Guadua angustifolia Kunth)
Tension Perpendicular
to grain
ft,90,k = 0.1N/mm2
3x weaker than C16
softwood
Steel is 2750 x
stronger!!!!
Modulus of elasticity
Modulus of elasticity in
compression
Ec,0,mean = 15000 N/mm2
Modulus of elasticity in bending
Em,mean = 11800 N/mm2
As stiff as timber
RC is approx 4x stiffer
Steel is approx 13x stiffer
Summary
Good strength in bending, tension and
compression (parallel to grain)
Quite flexible which is good and bad
It is light, i.e. high strength to weight ratio
OK in shear, but splits a lot
Easily crushed perpendicular to its axis
Very weak in tension perpendicular to axis
Keep loads axial!
Connection design is tricky
General guidelines
Walls: as a concealed stud
Space frames: good in compression and
tension
Columns: works well but indoors. Fire?
Trussed rafters: look out for connections
Rafter: works well in modern roofs
Floor joists: vibrations and support crushing
Beams: deflections and support crushing
Seismic design: …
Seismic design
High strength to weight
ratio √
Flexible: flexibility is a
mixed blessing ≈
Not ductile X
…but ductile
connections can be
introduced √
Traditional techniques
have shown good Figure 2. A house at the “Experimental Centre for Bamboo Construction”.
results √ Other new bamboo structures also performed well during this earthquake
Sustainable Strong
Cheap Beautiful
Bamboo structures can
be… …very large
The Peñalisa Golf Club by Simón Vélez
The Peñalisa
Golf Club
Buro Happold