EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON BAMBUSA BAMBOO AS A REINFORCED MATERIAL IN CONCRETE

The bamboo is one of multi-use forest product and it is economically most important, it is called as the “Green Gold”. It has special place in the life of poor and in rural businesses. It is easily becoming available and affordable forest produce meeting with the basic needs related to timber of human being. Therefore it is also called as the “Timber of the Poor”. This study is based on the use and performance of bamboo reinforcements in construction of low cost structures. Traditionally steel is used as reinforcement in concrete structure. But because of cost and availability, replacement of steel with some other suitable materials as reinforcement is now a major concern. It is a fact that the construction industry is the main consumer of energy and materials in most countries. Though bamboo has been used as a construction material, especially in developing country, until today its use as reinforcement in concrete structure is very limited due to various uncertainties. Since bamboo is a natural, cheap and also readily available material, it can be a substitute of steel in reinforcing of concrete structure. This investigation was carried using a combination of experimental testing. I included flexural testing of bamboo reinforced beams.