Engineered Bamboo Structures

Yan Xiao

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781032063959
• eBook ISBN: 9781000554113
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Technik & Maschinenbau
• Subtopic: Umweltwissenschaft

Bamboo is in the spotlight as a potential building material in the current pursuit of a CO2-neutral society, due to its rapid maturation and excellent mechanical properties. Despite the growing interest in bamboo in academia and society, there is a lack of systematic understanding of the fabrication, design and construction processes using bamboo as a modern industrial material. This is the first book to describe a new category of structural systems constructed with engineered bamboo. It gives a definition of engineered bamboo (glubam) in an analogy with steel structures and wood structures. Structural systems and components have been designed using glubam; then industrialized production processes of glubam are described. Based on state-of-the-art research, design guidelines are suggested, in a comparable and parallel approach to the existing guidelines for composite wood structures. The book also discusses bamboo structures in the context of sustainable development, including the benefits of using bamboo as an alternative or replacement for wood, especially for developing countries, many of which are faced with the lack or destruction of forest resources.

Chapter 1Bamboo for Carbon Neutral Development

DOI: 10.1201/9781003204497-1

Bamboo is in the limelight as a bio-based green material for potential mass applications in modern construction. In this first chapter, bamboo resources are briefly discussed, followed by the definition of various bamboo structures, and discussions about the structural systems. In particular, the relationships between modern timber structures and bamboo structures are discussed. Based on the discussion, the framework is set for this book on developing engineered bamboo structures with close reference to modern timber engineering.

1.1 Bamboo Resources

As evergreen perennial flowering plants, bamboos are in the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae, and are often referred as weedy grasses. There are more than a thousand species of bamboos widely distributed in the world.^[1,2] This important non-wood forest resource has also seen a favorable increase in the world, particularly in China, as shown in Table 1.1. In a recent study, Canavan et al. examined the origin of more than 1662 bamboo species,^[3] and Figure 1.1 shows the native and introduced species in different countries (only 20 countries extracted from Canavan et al. are shown). As exhibited in Figure 1.1, bamboos are native to countries in Asia, South America, and Africa; however, they have also been introduced in many parts of the world. It is particularly interesting to notice that the bamboo species in Australia, the United States, and some European countries are mainly introduced species. The author has also had a first-hand, surprising, and exciting encounter with vast bamboo forest bushes, shown in Figure 1.2, in a town named Belli Park, Queensland, Australia.

Table 1.1 Bamboo area by country and region (1990–2010)

Country/region		Area of bamboo (1000 ha)
		1990		2000		2005		2010
China		3856		4869		5426		5712
India		5116		5232		5418		5476
Total Asia (incl. China and India)		15,412		16,311		16,943		17,360
Total Europe		0		0		0		0
Total North and Central America		37		37		37		39
Total Africa		3688		3656		3640		3627
Total Oceania		23		38		45		45
Total South America		10,399		10,399		10,399		10,399
World		29,560		30,442		31,065		31,470
Source: FAO (2010).^[2]

Figure 1.1Native and imported bamboo species in different countries.

Source: Adopted from Canavan et al. (2017). ^[3]

Figure 1.2Bamboo bushes in Belli Park, Queensland, Australia.

Some of the bamboos are called giant bamboo due to the size and the height they can reach. Among them are the Moso bamboo and the Guadua bamboo. Moso bamboo, Phyllostachys edulis, is a bamboo species native to China, also widely spread in East Asia. Moso is an evergreen arboreal bamboo of a genus of the Poaceae subfamily, with uniaxial dispersion, a large stalk which can reach more than 20 meters and a breast diameter as large as 20 centimeters. Guaduo, or Guadua angustifolia, is a species of clumping bamboo found from Central to South America. These two bamboo species form the main raw materials for the bamboo structures discussed in this book.

Bamboo resources are abundant in China. The unique geographical environment of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River is extremely suitable for the growth of bamboo, particularly in the Hunan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, and Fujian provinces. The quality of bamboo in these regions is very good, with relatively large culm diameter and wall thickness. In addition, the mature cycle of the bamboo is relatively short, with three to five years of reproduction cycle. The main bamboo species used for buildings is Moso; this has been the case for a long time.^[4,5]

Varieties of bamboo products are being developed and produced, including traditional and modern hand crafts, household tools, furniture, boards and panels, bamboo floorings, etc. In China, based on the 2018 statistics,^[6] the total revenue of the bamboo industry exceeded 200 billion renminbi (RMB). However, despite the widely distributed bamboo forest resources, exploitation and logging management are not exercised sufficiently in many regions.

The levels of bamboo resource management and industrial development are not even in different regions. The differences in the development level of bamboo resources in the main bamboo producing areas have led to great differences in the management of bamboo resources. Some local governments regard the bamboo industry as one of their pillar industries, and have nurtured large-scale bamboo processing enterprises with a variety of products. Most enterprises have their own bamboo forest bases, and thus can achieve orderly logging management. The local government also vigorously promotes the cultivation of bamboo forests, increasing the area of bamboo forest. However, the author also examined some communities where the bamboo-related industry is relatively weak with only small workshops, mostly for small quantities of traditional household goods, and output of round bamboos, with low added values.

Innovations related to bamboo usage in other industrial products, such as clothing fabr...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• About the author
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 Bamboo for Carbon Neutral Development
• Chapter 2 Production of Engineered Bamboo
• Chapter 3 Material Properties of Glubam
• Chapter 4 Design Strength of Glubam
• Chapter 5 Connections in Glubam Structures
• Chapter 6 Performance of Glubam Structural Members
• Chapter 7 Glubam Trusses
• Chapter 8 Engineered Bamboo Structural Walls
• Chapter 9 Design and Construction of Engineered Bamboo Structures
• Index