Bamboo Reinforced Concrete Wall as a Replacement to Brick and Mud Wall

Dr D Maity, Member S K Behera, Non-member M Mishra, Non-member S Majumdar, Non-member

The present paper compares the cost of dwelling units using bamboo as a reinforcing material with the conventional methods and evaluates the feasibility of using bamboo as a potential reinforcement in place of steel. Tensile test of bamboo, two point loading test of bamboo reinforced beam and central point loading test of bamboo reinforced slabs are conducted to identify the behaviour of bamboo reinforced concrete members. The paper attempts to develope modular design of various types of dwelling units for different income groups of people. Cost estimation of two types of dwelling units done in this paper are cost estimation of (a) one-bedroom dwelling unit; and (b) two-bedroom dwelling unit. Provision of basic amenities, such as, a multipurpose room, a bath, a WC and a kitchen is kept in each unit. Cost estimation of these dwelling units is carried out to get an idea of their comparative cost when used in construction.
Keywords : Bamboo reinforced concrete wall; Building materials; Bamboo frame work

INTRODUCTION India is a country with large economic disparity. Though the country's GDP is increasing due to large economic growth but a large portion of society is completely unaffected. In developing countries like India, the welfare of the downtrodden and economically weaker section of the society brings the major objectives of the social goal. It is imperative that efforts have to be impartially directed towards providing basic amenities. Food, clothing and shelter are the universal bare essentials that one needs to survive. A substantial number of populations are living below poverty line; millions of them are living in temporary and sub-standard shelters. A large number of populations get displaced every year due to natural calamities like floods and cyclones. The problem of providing immediate shelters to the affected people brings lot of pressure to the Government and other agencies due to high prices of conventional building materials. It is therefore, evident that developments of alternate effective shelters will be a better proposition to housing problems. Hence, there is a growing awareness throughout the country among scientists, engineers, builders, designers and architects to develop suitable low-cost material and housing technologies and bring down the cost of such constructions. The primary area to reduce costs is by the use of modern construction methods that use locally available materials, unskilled labour and reduction of the construction time. In places where buildings are constructed with little or no
Dr D Maity, S K Behera, M Mishra and S Majumdar are with the Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur 721 302. This paper was received on May 15, 2009. Written discussion on the paper will be entertained till December 31, 2009.

reinforcement due to non-availability of steel, the use of bamboo as reinforcement can also act as a better and readily available solution. Steel bars are readily available and widely used in developed countries but unfortunately not in all parts of the world. So, there is a need of materials which can sustain tensile loads and at the same time are easily available and economically feasible. Thus, bamboo can be used as a reinforcement providing a much better and cheaper solution in these cases. Housing inadequacy is largely experienced at the level of low income group of people in our country because of continuous rise in cost of construction at all levels. As a result, more and more population ends up in slums in big cities. Thus, to ensure that the people do not end up in slums requires proper planning and financing of resources. Villagers use mud walls for construction of their houses which requires a lot of maintenance and in most of the cases not able to withstand natural calamities. Moreover, these mud walls get washed during flood. This necessitates the use of appropriate and cost-effective building materials and technologies in the construction of dwelling units for economically weaker sections of the society. The present paper deals with the use of bamboo as a reinforcing material after suitable treatment with cheaply available materials like asphalt, cement painting, araldite coating. The main problem in using bamboo as reinforcement in place of steel is that it absorbs water and swells and later when dries, it reduces to its normal size and thus reducing the strength of the bond between bamboo and concrete. Treatment of bamboo with some waterproof coating makes bamboo less susceptible to moisture. Thus, negligible swelling and shrinkage of bamboo occurs during the curing period of concrete. 5

Volume 90, October 2009

The recent phenomenal rise of price of building materials and construction costs have stood in the way of providing low-cost houses for millions of people using conventional building materials. The appropriate way of developing lowcost dwelling units is to make best use of locally available materials. Low-cost housing techniques can be achieved by replacing the conventional methods of planning and execution of building operations. Main problems in developing countries are creating sustainable livelihoods and preserving the environment. No single approach and solution is available which will be acceptable in the whole country. The technique has to select on the basis of local climatic condition and on the availability of local natural building materials/resources. BAMBOO AS BUILDING MATERIAL Bamboo is mainly a tropical plant which is found adequately in India. It is a very fast growing plant and it takes about four to five years to attain full maturity. The supply can be maintained without any residual damage by harvesting at the right time and helping the plant to grow more quickly in the future. Bamboo grows well in temperate climate which makes it appropriate for more cultivation of in our country. Lo, et al (2004) gave a detailed description of the mechanical properties of bamboo in their study. They found that the physical as well as mechanical attributes vary with respect to diameter, length, age, type, position along culm, and moisture content of bamboo. A list of the positive aspects of bamboo is given below, citing to its economical, mechanical and environmental properties. (i) Low-cost and environment friendly. (ii) High tensile strength. (iii) Light weight (compared to steel). (iv) Shock absorbing and thus earthquake resistant. (v) It uses less fossil fuel to manufacture. (vi) Bamboo can prevent pollution by absorbing large amounts of nitrogen from waste water and reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the air. (vii) Its abundance in tropical and subtropical regions makes it an economically advantageous material. These above aspects put bamboo on the list of viable construction materials. These properties when combined, suggest that bamboo will make a fine addition to the current selection of materials, but it is necessary that people in general be made more familiar with its strengths and weaknesses. Some of the drawbacks of using bamboo are given below. (i) Low strength along fibres (it tends to separate and crack along cleavage). (ii) It is not that uniform, ie, large varieties of bamboo are found having different tensile strength. 6

(iii) It has tendency to absorb water and also to release water on drying. (iv) Bamboo wood is easily infested by wood-boring insects and attracts living organisms, such as, fungi and insects because of its high content of nutrients unless treated with wood preservatives or kept very dry. (v) Due to its low modulus of elasticity, bamboo can crack and deflect more than steel reinforcement under the same conditions. (vi) It is susceptible to catch fire as compared to steel. But lately, there have been a few developments by which the drawbacks can be curtailed and can be used for construction. In order to combat this problem, it becomes necessary to treat bamboo with suitable and cheap water proofing material depending upon the degree of hazard and service conditions to protect it from the environment. Steel does not have this problem but it also needs to be coated in order to protect it from rusting. Many chemical treatments like alkali treatment; asphalt treatment etc have been devised to reduce the water seepage into the bamboo. While using bamboo as building material, one should be aware of the following features. (i) Like timber, bamboo is vulnerable to environmental degradation and attacks by insects and moulds. Its durability varies with the type of species, age, conservation condition, treatment and curing. (ii) Curing should be initiated when bamboo is being cut in the bamboo grove. (iii) There is a strong relation between insect attacks and the levels of starch plus humidity content of bamboo culm. (iv) In order to reduce the starch content, bamboo receives a variety of treatments including curing on the spot, immersion, heating, or smoke. (v) Drying bamboo is fundamental to its conservation for various reasons. (vi) Bamboo with low humidity is less prone to mould attacks especially when humidity content is less than 15%. (vii) Physical and mechanical properties of bamboo increase with decrease in humidity content. (viii)Bamboo can be dried in air, green house, and oven or by fire. The preservative can be applied using simple systems, such as, leave transpiration, immersion and impregnation. (ix) Concrete is very alkaline in nature and will attack the bamboo reinforcement (long term performance). In addition, cracking can allow water ingress, which will cause further deterioration. IE(I) JournalAR

BAMBOO REINFORCED CONCRETE PANELS The use of bamboo as a reinforcement in concrete is a comparatively new concept but has been evolved because of increase in demand of low-cost housing. Bamboo is used as a reinforcing material since it is easily accessible as it grows in almost every tropical and subtropical region, thus lowers the cost of construction and increases the strength of the buildings that would otherwise be unreinforced or very little reinforced. In the present study, bamboo meshes (Figure 1) are used as reinforced material in concrete. The use of bamboo mesh panels (Figure 2) as wall makes the structure economical, shock absorbing and environment-friendly. Concrete Mix Proportions The same mix proportions which are used in case of steel reinforced slabs can be used but it is preferred to use concrete which has high early strength cement so as to reduce cracks caused by swelling of bamboo when it cannot be made waterproof. The concrete used in the panels is lean mixture with mix proportions of 1:2:4 of cement: fine aggregate: course aggregate and water to cement (43 grade PPC) ratio of 0.4, all measured by weight. Bamboo Framework The bamboo used in the panels was allowed to dry for two to three weeks before construction of the panels, so as to remove all the moisture present in the bamboo. Then a framework of bamboo strips is constructed by cross-linking the strips. To avoid swelling of bamboo strips, a thin coating of asphalt is applied, as thick coating will lubricate the surface and thus weaken the bond between bamboo and concrete. This bamboo framework can also be brought from the market as it is readily available (Figure 1). The clear spacing between the bamboo rods should be more than the maximum size of aggregate used. For more than one layer of mat, the layers can be tied by the help of wires. In case of the slabs, onehalf to two-thirds of bottom reinforcement should be bent near the supports as it is recommended in case of flexural

Figure 2 Bamboo reinforced slab after casting

members. It is highly desirable to provide strips near the end supports as diagonal tension reinforcement. At first, 2.54 cm thick concrete is added in the frame work of 11 m2 and on the top of it, treated mat is laid. Then again another 2.54 cm thick layer of concrete is added to the top of it. The whole thing is compacted and is smoothly finished with cement, sand and water mix (Figure 2). The panel is then cured for 28 days until it gains sufficient strength. The total thickness of the bamboo panel is found to be around 70 mm (50 mm concrete + 6 mm 2 plasters on both sides + 8 mm thick bamboo panel mat after treatment). DWELLING UNITS In the present work, an attempt has been made to compare the cost of dwelling units with conventional method having two different alternatives. The plinth areas of these dwelling units are taken as 30.25 m2 and 49 m2. The dwelling unit is taken as square so as to minimize the perimeter and saving material and at the same time maximizing the living area. The housing design considers land as scarce commodity and the provision of basic infrastructure as relevant cost factor. General Construction of Single Room House Details of the plan of one- and two-bedroom dwelling units are shown in Figures 3 and 4, respectively. The side view of one-bedroom dwelling unit is shown in Figure 5. A cost comparison with brick wall and mud wall is also made to get a general idea of total cost of construction. The general construction has been calculated as described below. Foundation The foundation is made of cement concrete (1:2:4) pedestals with a cross-section of 250 mm 250 mm and height 800 mm (500 mm below ground and 300 mm above ground up to the plinth level) over which timber columns rest. Super-structure

Figure 1 Bamboo framework

Super-structure is made of columns and walls. Columns are 7

Volume 90, October 2009

Flooring
Bathroom 2m2m

Flooring consists of stone soling covered with 25 mm thick plain cement concrete (1:2:4) with smooth finish. Roofing

Bedroom 3.5 m 3.5 m

Roof is made of tin readily available in the market. It can also be replaced by bamboo mesh slabs for further reduction of cost. Doors and Windows Door dimension is 1.2 m 2.1 m and window is taken to be 0.9 m 1.2 m and sill height is taken as 1 m. One-bedroom Dwelling Unit The one-bedroom house to be built using bamboo concrete panels has a total plan area of 5.5 m 5.5 m and a plinth area of 30.25 m2. It consists of basic amenities like onebedroom of size 3.5 m 3.5 m, bathroom (2 m 2 m), kitchen cum store room (2 m 2 m) and a living room of size 3 m 2 m and a dining room of size 1.5 m 2 m. Windows are located at a sill height of 1 m having dimension of 0.9 m 1.2 m and dimensions of doors used throughout the house are 1.2 m 2.1 m. The plan and elevation are shown in Figures 3 and 5, respectively. Two-room Dwelling Unit Two-bedroom house is also built by the use of bamboo concrete panels in place of mud walls and brick walls with locally available timber as walling material to provide support for bamboo concrete mesh panels. The unit consists of twobedrooms of size 4 m 3.5 m, with a kitchen cum storing room of dimension 3 m 2 m, a bathroom of 3 m 2 m and a living room of size 3 m 3 m. The plan is shown in Figure 4. EXPERIMENTAL TEST RESULTS Three singly bamboo reinforced slabs were tested with the central point loading test. Also, three cubes of 150 mm 150 mm 150 mm and three cylinders of 150 mm 300 mm were casted for finding out the 28 days compressive strength.
Kitchen cum store room 3m2m Roof made of readily available tin sheets

Living room 2m3m Kitchen 2m2m Dining room 1.5 m 2 m

Figure 3 Plan of one-bedroom dwelling unit (5.5 m 5.5 m)

Bathroom 3m2m Bedroom 1 4 m 3.5 m

Living cum dining room 3m3m

Bedroom 2 4 m 3.5 m

Figure 4 Plan of two-bedroom dwelling unit (7 m 7 m)

3

100 mm 100 mm timber columns Bamboo strips for walling purpose Plinth line 0.3 M15 concrete foundation

made of 100 mm 100 mm square section timber. Walls of 3 m height are made of 70 mm thick asphalt, sand and aggregate (1:2:4) mortar coated bamboo mat panels. To limit the size of bamboo based asphalt-sand panels and to hold the panels vertically in position, additional timber sections of cross-sectional dimensions 75 mm 75 mm are used horizontally as well as vertically at locations shown in the Figure 4. Timber can also be replaced by bamboo for supporting the bamboo reinforced slabs. 8

0.8

Finished with M15 concrete (1:2:4) 25 mm thick

Stone soling 150 mm thick

Figure 5 Side view of one-bedroom dwelling unit

IE(I) JournalAR

Figure 8 Development of initial cracks near to centre of the slab Figure 6 Central point loading test set-up

The average compressive strength of the cube and cylinder were found 19.89 N/mm2 and 19.32 N/mm2, respectively. The photograph of the test set-up for carrying the experiments is shown in Figure 6. The slab was placed in the set-up meant for the central point loading test of the slab. The oil pressure controlled jack was adjusted in between the top surface of the slab and top of the set-up. Loading was applied by means of this oil pressure controlled jack which was operated manually. At the bottom surface of the slab, a dial gauge was fixed at the centre point to note its deflection. Another dial gauge was fixed on the periphery at the top surface of the slab. Loading were gradually increased till the slab cracking was appeared and was broken. At different loadings, the corresponding dial gauge readings were noted. The central deflections of three slabs are shown in Figure 7. All the slabs showed similar rigidity up to the appearance of the first crack in the central zone. After the appearance of the first visible crack, there was a very noticeable change of
400 350 300 250
Load, kg

gradient for the bamboo-reinforced concrete slabs. The experimental load corresponding to the appearance of the first crack was marked on the slabs. The development of crack patterns near centre of the slab is shown in Figure 8. Initial cracks were developed at the centre of the bottom surface of the slab, then the cracks proceeded towards the periphery of the slab and secondary cracks were appeared. The collapse load of the first, second and third slabs were found 453 kg, 352 kg and 341 kg, respectively. It is important to note that the least count of the proving ring used was one division = 10 kg/cm2. The central deflection of the slab went on increasing and it attained the maximum deflection before the cracks appear. Due to non-availability of finer proving ring, it was difficult to capture the deflection just before collapse and as a result the ultimate deflection corresponds to its collapse load is not shown in the graph (Figure 7) . COST ANALYSIS OF VARIOUS ALTERNATIVES The cost of dwelling units with different alternatives is calculated with the assumed rates of various building materials as given in Table 1. With this rate, the cost of the dwelling units have been calculated for different alternatives and summarised in Tables 2 and 3. The cost of labour has not been included. This cost can only be calculated while a prototype building is constructed. From the cost analysis results, it is observed that the use of bamboo-concrete panel as wall is a promising alternatives to both the mud wall as well as brick wall. The cost analysis is done assuming that
Table 1 Rates of various building materials Building material Cement Sand Aggregate Brick Steel bars Tin sheets Bamboo mesh Timber Bamboo Unit 50 kg bag per tonne per tonne per brick per tonne per square metre per square metre per cubic metre per metre strip Rate per unit, Rs 250 300 950 5 30000 90 50 2600 2.5

200 150 100 50 0 0 1 2 Deflection, mm 3 4 First slab Second slab Third slab

Figure 7 Load against deflection of bamboo reinforced slabs

Volume 90, October 2009

Table 2 Comparison of cost of one-bedroom dwelling unit Type of construction With mud wall Total cost of dwelling unit, Rs 56165 68540 78850 Cost of dwelling unit, Rs/ft2 172 210 242

(v)

Construction of bamboo panels does not require much skill and can be easily done.

(vi) Mud walls get washed in case of floods which do not happen in case of bamboo reinforced concrete walls. (vii) For regions, where the availability of steel is limited and plain concrete members are commonly being used, the use of reinforced bamboo concrete is highly recommended. (viii) The technology evolved can be effectively adopted for construction of low-cost houses with cost ranging from Rs 180 to 250/feet2 depending upon the design of the house and nature of interior finish, and also upon the local conditions. REFERENCES

With bamboo concrete panels With brick wall

Table 3 Comparison of cost of two-bedroom dwelling unit Type of construction With mud wall Total cost of dwelling unit, Rs 85972 103371 115961 Cost of dwelling unit, 163 196 220 Rs/ft2

With bamboo concrete panels With brick wall

Table 4 Comparison of rates/square feet of wall Type of wall used in dwelling unit Mud wall Bamboo concrete mesh wall Brick wall Cost/ft2, Rs 5 26 40

1. I V Ramanuja Rao, R Gnanaharan and C B Sastry. Bamboos : Current Research. Proceedings of the International Bamboo Workshop, Cochin, Kerala, India, November 14-18, 1988. 2. J Prasad, B S Pandey, R Ahuja and A K Ahuga. Low-cost Housing for Hilly Regions using Locally Available Materials. Asian Journal of Civil Engineering, vol 6, no 4, 2005, pp 257-265. 3. K Ghavami. Ultimate Load Behavior of Bamboo-Reinforced Lightweight Concrete Beams. Cement and Concrete Composites, vol 17, 1995, pp 281-288. 4. K Ghavami. Bamboo as Reinforcement in Structural Concrete Elements. Cement and Concrete Composites, 2004. 5. L Khare. Performance Evaluation of Bamboo Reinforced Beams. Technical Report University of Texas, Arlington, 2005. 6. M Mishra, S K Behera, S Majumdar and D Maity. Comparison of Cost of Dwelling Units using Bamboo as Reinforcing Material. Proceedings of the Seventh All India People's Technology Congress, February 6-7, Kolkata, India, 2009, pp 495-500. 7. N Sengupta. Use of Cost-effective Construction Technologies in India to Mitigate Climate Change. Current Science, vol 94, no 1, January 10, 2008. 8. P K Adlakha and H C Puri. Prefabrication Building Methodologies for Low Cost Housing. Journal of The Institution of Engineeris (India), Architectural Engineering Division, vol 84, no 1, April 2003, pp 4-9. 9. C Steinfeld. A Bamboo Future. Environmental Design and Construction, http://www.edcmag.com/CDA/ArticleInformation/features/ BNP_Features_Items/, 2001, pp 1-5. 10. Y Lo Tommy, H Z Cui, P W C Tang and H C Leung. Strength Analysis of Bamboo by Microscopic Investigation of Bamboo Fibre. Hong Kong, China, 2007. 11. U S Naval Civil Engineering Laboratory. Bamboo Reinforced Concrete Construction. http://www.romanconcrete.com/docs/bamboo1966/ BambooReinforcedConcrete, 1966, 2000, pp 1-19.

all the columns and beams used in all the dwelling units are made of concrete mix. The only difference is in the wall that is one alternative is the mud wall, other being brick and the most economical one being the bamboo mesh concrete panel. CONCLUSIONS The main objective of the proposed work is to use locally available bamboo as a reinforcing material for construction of walls which is more economical and at the same time environmentally sustainable. The use of bamboo panel as a reinforcement in wall elements is highly encouraged in this study because of following reasons. (i) The strength of bamboo concrete panels is quite higher than the mud wall and use of bamboo is highly recommended in flood prone areas. The bamboo concrete panels are much more durable.

(ii)

(iii) The initial cost of the bamboo-concrete panels is higher but the maintenance cost is lower as compared to mud walls. (iv) Asphalt coating on the bamboo mat and sand spraying increase the bond between concrete and bamboo.

10

IE(I) JournalAR