INTRODUCTION

GENERAL
From the early times Bamboo is used as a construction material. The Bamboo is used in both technical as well as non technical ways. Our ancestors used Bamboo in the construction of the houses. The Bamboo was used as the struts, posts, roofs etc in the construction of the houses. Now a days concrete are used as the basic materials for the construction works. The concrete is good in compression but weak in the tensile strength. So steel is used as reinforcement in the concrete to achie e the tensile strength. !roblems encountered with the commonly used construction material like steel are high in cost, corrosion, etc. "ue to the ad antageous characteristics of Bamboo, in the last few years, studies ha e been made on the use of Bamboo as structural material and reinforcement in concrete. The main obstacle for the application of Bamboo as a reinforcement is the lack of sufficient information about its interaction with concrete, strength and durability. This study presents the e aluation of the feasibility of the use of Bamboo as reinforcement in concrete members. Bamboo has high tensile strength and is relati ely light in weight. #t is therefore anattracti e material for engineering purposes and has had many applications in constructionworks for hundreds of years. #ts properties are such that it also has the potential forreinforcing weaker materials and it was ine itable that its use for reinforcing cementedmaterials, including concrete, should be considered. $owe er, it is not an easy material to use for this purpose. This is because %a& it has poor bonding characteristicswith cementand concrete, %b& it undergoes considerable olume changes due to absorption of water %or&as it dries out&, %c& it is prone to deterioration as a result of the action of chemicals, insects, and fungi, %d& its properties are e'tremely ariable depending on its species, har esting,age, treatment, and other uncontrollable factors.

Furthermore,and most importantly, its elastic modulus is relati ely low compared to steel, the principal alternati e reinforcingmaterial. (onsiderable research has therefore been necessary to determine whether theseproblems can be sol ed. This report re iews this research and confirms that there arenumerous successful uses of bamboo for reinforcing cemented materials in specificcircumstances. $owe er, the re iew also shows that bamboo is fre)uentlynot suitable.

LITERATURE REVIEW HISTORY

Bamboos are giant grasses belonging to the family of the Bambusoideae. #t is estimated that *+,-+ generae of Bamboo e'ist, encompass appro'imately ..++,./++ species and there are also about *++ different botanical species of Bamboo in the world. Bamboo mainly grows in tropical and sub0tropical regions of 1sia, 2atin 1merica and 1frica. Bamboo is ersatile resource characteri3ed by high strength to weight ratio and ease in working with simple tools. Bamboo is the fastest growing, renewable natural resource known to us. #t is a small wonder, therefore, that this material was used for building e'tensi ely by our ancestors. #t has a long and well established tradition as a building material throughout the tropical and sub0tropical regions. #t is used in many forms of construction, particularly for housing in rural areas. But, enough attention had not been paid towards research and de elopment in Bamboo as had been in the case with other materials of construction including timber 4*5. "ue to the ad antageous characteristics of Bamboo, in the last few years, studies ha e been made on Bamboo as structural material and reinforcement in concrete. Fikremariam 6engistu 1ssaminew4.5 has conducted the tension test and compression test on the Bamboo specimen. $e concluded that the compressi e strength of the Bamboo is less than the tensile strength of the Bamboo. The test on the fle'ural member was also conducted. The result showed that the treated Bamboo shows slightly higher bond strength than untreated. 7hosrow 8ha ami495 has described about the test on the beams and columns. $e has shown the whole procedure of the beam and

column test and its beha iour. $e finally concluded that the Bamboo can satisfactorily substitute the steel. The arious element produced by Bamboo can ery well be used in the construction. 6arkos 1lito4:5 mentioned about the physical and the mechanical properties of the Bamboo and its arious test. $e has presented his study on the test performed on the ;.(.( beam reinforced with the Bamboo. The mid span test was performed. $e concluded that the Bamboo reinforced concrete design is similar to steel reinforced concrete design if its mechanical properties are properly utili3ed. 6usbau 1<ibade Salau4=5 has shown his work about the structural strength of the concrete column reinforced with the Bamboo strips. The number of the Bamboo stirrups is aried. The results showed that the load carrying capacity of the column increased with increase in percentage of Bamboo stirrup reinforcement but the increase is not proportional to the percentage of reinforcement. Sat<apan 2eelatanon, Suthon Sri aro and Nirundorn 6atan4/5 has stated about the test on the a'ial force element such as column. !aper shows that the Bamboo was used as the reinforcement in the concrete without any surface treatment. They concluded that for the column reinforced with the Bamboo without any surface treatment, strength capacity was found to be sufficient for carrying the a'ial load while the ductility was found low. >oungsi ?ung4@5 has performed the pull out test. Aarious types of the Bamboo used are solid and the moso. The Bamboo with nodes and without nodes was also used. 1t the end he concluded that the moso Bamboo shows higher strength and ductility than that of the solid Bamboo. #n general the node was found to be failure point for the Bamboo ha ing nodes. Thus moso Bamboo shows higher grip and strength than that of the solid Bamboo.

Water:potable water is to be use for the experimentation

Cement! Or"inar# $ortlan" %ement is pro%ure" in
one lot for the present stu"#

Fine Aggregate: Lo%all# a&ailable san" to be use as

fine a''re'ate Coarse Aggregate! (oarse a''re'ate of maximum nominal si)e of *+mm to be use in the present stu"#

TESTS
The followin' tests are to be performe" ,- .resh %on%rete ,- Slump *- (ompa%tion fa%tor /*- Har"ene" %on%rete ,- (ompressi&e test *- Tensile test /- .lexural test