Performance of Bamboo Reinforced Flexural Members

An investigation conducted on strength and deformation characteristics of six bamboo reinforced conventional and blended concrete beams is reported in this paper. All beams (size 125 mm x 150 mm x 1000 mm) with bamboo strips as reinforcement in the tension zone have been cast, cured in normal condition for 28 days of maturity and then tested to failure under third-point loading. Three bamboo reinforced concrete beams of M25-grade concrete, and three of blended concrete containing 15% fly ash and 30% blast furnace slag as partial replacement of cement and coarse aggregate respectively by weight in the same mix have been used. Test results show that the first-crack load and the experimental failure load were similar for both types of beams. The experimental failure loads are 2.40 and 2.43 times their corresponding theoretical failure loads respectively. All beams exhibited large ductility before final failure in flexure.