Flexural and shear behaviour of concrete beams reinforced with bamboo

The performance of bamboo as reinforcement in concrete structures can be successful if safety limit conditions are considered. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the feasibility of bamboo strips application as a flexure and shear reinforcement in concrete beams. Culms from Dendrocalamus giganteus were split and employed as reinforcement using rectangular sections of 20 mm width × natural length of the bamboo. Experimental analysis of six simply supported bamboo-reinforced concrete beams subjected to two point loads was carried out up to collapse. The ultimate test loads for the different beams were compared to the loads predicted according to ACI 318 (steel reinforced concrete beams regulation). Finally, a recommendation based on the analysis of the results for the design of such beams is proposed.