Challenges, Opportunities and Solutions in Structural Engineering

and Construction Ghafoori (ed.)

2010 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-56809-8

Use of bamboo composites as structural members in building construction

T.H. Nguyen & T. Shehab
California State University, Long Beach, CA, USA

A. Nowroozi
Tajann Engineering & Construction, Inc., CA, USA

ABSTRACT: This paper presents a study that was conducted to investigate the potential of using bamboo
composites as structural members in building construction. First, to develop basic information about the flexural
performance of the bamboo composite, different bamboo composite specimens with different layer configurations were fabricated. The specimens then were tested in three-point bending to failure. Results showed that the
bamboo laminates with reinforcing pins were the strongest and the stiffest of the specimens tested.

to develop basic information about the flexural performance of the bamboo composite, different bamboo
composite specimens with different layer configurations were fabricated: one group of specimens had
reinforcing pins inserted into the bamboo laminate and
another one without pins. The specimens then were
tested in three-point bending to failure. The following sections of this paper are organized as follows:
first, the fabrication process of bamboo specimens
is explained; then the flexure tests and results are
presented and discussed; and finally the conclusion
section summarizes the project outcomes.

INTRODUCTION

On a global scale, the fact that forests are being over

logged and severely destroyed is attracting worldwide
concern for the global environment. Materials that
offer alternatives to traditional wood products, such
as bamboo, must be considered. In effect, bamboo is
one of the fastest renewable plants with about 1250
species (Austin & Ueda 1972; ABS 2008) and a maturity cycle of 34 years, thus making it a huge and
highly attractive natural resource compared to forest hardwoods. In the construction industry, bamboo
has been increasingly adopted as an environmentally
acceptable building material for construction projects
in many countries over the world because of its super
properties like high strength to weight ratio, high tensile strength and other factors like low cost, easy
availability and harmless to the environment during
service. Recently, many bamboo-based products (e.g.
bamboo boards, bamboo mats, bamboo ceiling tiles,
and bamboo flooring boards) have been manufactured
using laminate technology (Bansal & Zoolagud 2002;
INBR 2001). The process involves basic engineering
of the bamboo before the manufacture of the specified building materials. Such bamboo-based products,
however, were not designed to be used as structural
members (e.g. beams, columns, and trusses). These
manufactured products have very limited and in some
cases no structural capacity. As results, a number of
researchers (Ghavami 1995; Yao & Li 2003; Li et al.
2001) have recently investigated different engineering
methods for fabricating bamboo composites in attempt
to maximize the structural strength of the products.
This paper presents a study that was conducted to
investigate the potential of using bamboo composites
as structural members in building construction. First,

2
2.1

FABRICATION OF SPECIMEN
Preparing materials

Materials required for fabricating the composite specimen include bamboo laminates and adhesive.
2.1.1 Bamboo laminates
Bamboo laminates with dimensions of 400 25
15 mm were supplied by a bamboo flooring manufacturer. These bamboo laminates were made from slivers
milled out from the bamboo culm. The bamboo strips
were then dried and treated for anti-fungal before being
subjected to surface and edge gluing. The slivers were
arranged systematically and subjected to a hydraulic
hot press (Temp 150 C and Pressure 17 kg/cm2 )
to make them into panels. The pressed laminate panels
were then put through trimming, sanding and grooving
machines to give a pre-finish shape. It was noticed that
the bamboo strips were processed by super heat steam,
which not only killing moth inside but also carbonizing
the strips. Thus, the bamboo laminates will be able to

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resist moth, mildew, and insect diseases and will be

more durable than natural bamboo.
It has been reported that mechanical properties
of bamboo vary from species to species and within a
species the difference in mechanical properties depends
on the location of the bamboo sample in the stem
(Janssen 1981). The bottom area of the culm of a
bamboo pole is usually stronger than that at the top.
Ages of the culm and moisture content are also the
factors that determine the mechanical properties. In
general, the strength of a bamboo reaches maximum
when the bamboo is fully mature. In addition, the
inner fiber is weaker in flexure than the outer fiber;
therefore, the bamboo laminates in the specimen were
layout such that the outer fiber of bamboo is placed at
top and bottom faces of the specimen in order to take
advantage of their maximum strength.
Table 1 shows the mechanical properties of bamboo
laminates and teak wood. It was found from the Table
that the bamboo laminates (using species of bambusa
bambose), in overall, have higher structural strength
than teak wood.
2.1.2 Adhesive
The adhesive material used for binding bamboo laminates of the specimen was a biobased product, named
KR Bond. This is a water-based polymer-isocyanate
adhesive. It has been found that formaldehyde-free
KR Bond does not contribute harmful Volatile Organic
Compounds (VOCs) to the indoor atmosphere (Smith
1987).
2.2

Specimen

The fabrication procedure of the specimen can be summarized as follows:

Arrange the bamboo laminates 400 25 15 mm
obtained from a manufacturer (Refer to Subsection

Pin
10 cm
25
mm

45
mm

Bamboo laminates
Figure 1.

Property

Unit

Bamboo laminate
(Bambusa bambose)

Teak wood
@12% M.C

Density
R
E
S
C
W
Face
Edge

kg/cm3
N/mm2
N/mm2
N/mm2
N/mm2

715
75
10,970
11
72

604
94
11,720
9
52

N
N

4,540
3,624

3,900
2,881

M.C. = moisture content; R = modulus of rupture;

E = modulus of elasticity; S = block shear strength;
C = compressive strength; W = screw withdrawal strength.

The specimen with bamboo pins.

2.1.1 Bamboo laminates for the fabrication of these

bamboo laminates) in 3 layers to make a specimen with a dimension of 400 mm length, 25 mm
thickness, and 45 mm width.
Clean the surface of the bamboo laminates and apply
adhesive bonding between the laminates using a hot
press.
Insert a bamboo pin having a diameter of 5 mm into
the specimen at spacing of 10 cm on center.
The construction and dimensions of the bamboo
specimen are shown in Figure 1.
Additionally, there are two groups of specimen
that were fabricated for this experiment program: one
includes five specimens with pins and the other has
five specimens without pins. These pins are made of
bamboo and have a diameter of 5 mm. It is anticipated
that the insertion of the bamboo pin would improve
the bonding strength of the bamboo laminates.

3
3.1

Table 1. Compare mechanical properties of bamboo laminates and teak wood.

400 mm

FLEXURE TESTS AND RESULTS

Flexure tests

The flexure tests (or three-point bending tests) were

conducted in accordance to ASTM (American Standards of Testing and Materials) D3043-87, Standard Test Methods for Testing Structural Panels in
Flexure.
A SATEC (Model 22 EMF) universal testing
machine was used to perform the three-point bending
test. The system is a closed loop computer controlled
load frame with a high speed data acquisition system. The machine has a maximum loading capacity of
100 kN at room temperature. The flexural load was set
at a stroke rate of 0.5 mm/min. The span and the width
for the specimens were 300 mm and 45 mm respectively. The midpoint deflection was determined by the
linear variable differential transducer. The bending
test setup is shown in Figure 2.

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Figure 4.

Figure 2.

addition, Figure 3 shows that the residual flexural

stress of both specimens was about 10 MPa when the
midspan deflections in both curves reached 25 mm.
The failure mode of the flexural test is shown in
Figure 4. It can be seen that the specimen failed by the
weak tensile strength of bamboo laminates (i.e. the
bottom face of the specimen) and due to the high bond
strength of adhesive between bamboo laminates, there
was no interfacial delamination shown after the failure.
After the peak stress, due to the failure of the bamboo laminates, the flexural stress significantly dropped
with the increase in deflection.

Three-point bending test setup.

120
100
Flexural Stress (MPa)

Failure mode.

80
60
40
20

CONCLUSIONS

0
-20

10

15

20

25

30

Midpoint deflection (mm)

Figure 3. Stress-deflection curve a: Specimen with pin

b: Specimen without pin.

3.2

Results

The test results are presented in Figure 3 showing the

flexural curves of stressdeflection at the mid-point
of the span. The curve denoted a shows the flexural test results of the specimen with pins and the
curve denoted b is for the specimen without pins. As
seen in Figure 3, the flexural behaviors of the bamboo laminates with and without pins are different. For
both bamboo laminate specimens, up to the stress of
20 MPa, it showed a linear behavior. It is found that
the gradient of the two curves slightly change with
an increase in stress. The rigidity of the specimen
with pins is obviously larger than that without pins
as the former started fracturing at a higher ultimate
flexural stress (about 105 MPa) compared to the ultimate flexural stress of the latter (about 70 MPa). This
is an expected strength improvement resulted from
the insertion of bamboo pins into the bamboo laminate specimen. It is also noticed that under the same
applied load, the deflection of the specimen without
pins is larger than that of the specimen with pin. In

607

Bamboo is a cheap and sustainable building material

that is abundantly available in some countries such
as Vietnam, China, and India. Due to its advantages,
bamboo has been engineered and used to fabricate a
variety of composite materials for building construction. The engineered bamboo composites available
in the market; however, were used for making furniture, floor covering, or decorative elements and
not designed to carry structural loads. This research
project investigated the potential of using bamboo
laminates used as structural members in construction
projects. Two groups of specimens were fabricated for
testing: one includes bamboo laminates with reinforcing pins and the other comprises of specimens without
pins. The results of this investigation show that the
strength of the bamboo laminates with reinforcing
pins can be improved up to 105 MPa. In summary,
if the bamboo composites are properly engineered
and fabricated, the products structural strength would
be maximized and can be used to replace wooden
structural members in building construction.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge the support
from the bamboo flooring manufacturer (Plyboo, Inc.)
by providing bamboo materials for this experiment
program.

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