BAMBOO REINFORCED SLABS MODELLING AND PERFORMANCE IN BUILDING STRUCTURES

Abstract

Recently, the cost of construction materials is increasing, especially steel, this has added to the challenges facing the construction industry. As the price continues to rise, there is an urgent need to find a substitute. Bamboo material being renewable and sustainable, it can be a substitute to solve one of the major challenges facing the construction industry. Bamboo has great mechanical properties and is eco-friendliness, this makes it a potential material that can replace steel reinforcement in concrete structures. This study investigates the performance of Bamboo reinforced concrete (BRC) slabs using Finite Element Analysis and validates using experimental results. Numerical models were developed using ABAQUS software to simulate the behaviour of BRC slabs that are reinforced with 8mm x 8mm and 10mm x 10mm bamboo sticks. Experimental results were used to validate the models created and it shows close agreement with high correlation coefficients of 0.98 - 0.99. The numerical ultimate failure loads obtained are 30.86 kN and 31.72 kN and maximum deflections of 9.65 mm and 9.97 mm, all these are close to experimental results of previous literature. The research shows that numerical modelling can accurately predict the structural behaviour of BRC slabs, which can be used for future applications.