See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/363716192

Bamboo as a sustainable building construction material

Article in Materials Today Proceedings · September 2022

DOI: 10.1016/j.matpr.2022.09.218

CITATIONS READS

8 647

3 authors:

Antony Kumar Boity Harveen Bhandari

Chitkara University Chitkara University PUNJAB INDIA
4 PUBLICATIONS 10 CITATIONS 38 PUBLICATIONS 128 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Saurabh Shukla
Chitkara University
1 PUBLICATION 8 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Harveen Bhandari on 09 May 2023.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

5/8/23, 2:35 PM Bamboo as a sustainable building construction material - ScienceDirect

Materials Today: Proceedings

Volume 71, Part 2, 2022, Pages 306-311

Bamboo as a sustainable building construction material

Antony Kumar Boity, Harveen Bhandari , Saurabh Shukla

Show more

Share Cite

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2022.09.218 ↗
Get rights and content ↗

Abstract

The Building Construction Industry is one of the major consumers of energy based on fossil fuels in different forms. While the
population around the world is growing the demand for housing, infrastructure, and other construction is also increasing. With
advanced technology and innovation, a high range of types of building materials is available but they have very high embodied energy
due to many chemical processes and other associated factors. The current paper highlights the need to use materials such as Bamboo,
which are available in nature and can be used easily without being highly energy-intensive, less embodied energy, and
environmentally sustainable. The study has been based on a few tests conducted using UTM (Universal Testing Machine) to measure
the tensile strength and compressive strength of treated and untreated bamboo and compare it with concrete and steel. Further,
bamboo can be grown at multiple locations with little investment, replenished easily, and has tremendous potential as a sustainable
building material for small and large building constructions thereby helping reduce the carbon footprint.

Introduction

Building Industry consumes almost one-third of the total energy consumption in the entire world making buildings the largest
consumers of energy [1]. Energy consumption has been accelerating since the 1900 s at an alarming rate and this energy demand is
likely to increase in the coming years with the rising population and all growing energy-intensive industries; power plants, factories,
transportation, and building industry. Several previous researchers have posited that there is a need to deeply analyze energy
consumption in the building sector and that too separately for the developed and developing nations to assess and prioritize energy-
saving measures in the most consuming nations of the world [2]. The selection of sustainable building materials and their use in
construction has been found to have multiple benefits such as reducing the embodied energy of building materials and decreasing the
toxic emissions generated from the building materials and influencing the impact of the building on the environment [3]. This
emphasizes the significance of using sustainable materials with lower lifecycle carbon emissions, and lower embodied energy which
will reduce both energy demand and emissions, making way for a sustainable environment [4].

With advanced technology more and new materials are being used for construction which has high embodied energy affecting the
environment, destroying mountains during extraction of minerals, and depleting the finite natural resources. We must look for
alternate materials for building construction to not only keep the building construction sustainable but also keep the natural resources
like air, water, land, etc. available for our future generations. The development of bamboo products as a sustainable, cost-effective, and
environmentally responsible alternative construction material is gaining popularity around the world [5]. Because of the fast-growing
root system, it is known as one of the fastest-growing grasses and its growth is three times more than most plants. “The Green Gold” is
available at fewer prices as compared with timber and it is as solid as most of the wood available on the market [6]. This innovative
building material in architecture will not just help in promoting green development but also sustainable development in the
Construction Industry.

There are more than 70 genera of Bamboo with more than 1200 species that occur in the natural forests which have not been studied
adequately and these forests cover more than 14 million hectares worldwide [7]. Interestingly eighty percent of these species are
found mostly in South and Southeast Asia, i.e.; India, China, and Myanmar, which is close to seven million hectares of bamboo forest
[8]. Bamboos grow almost pan India and exhibit a good performance of physical strength through high rigidity and high growth in
production with high intensity and better thermal stability [9]. This renewable material is also “one of the fastest growing plants”

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S221478532206031X 1/4
5/8/23, 2:35 PM Bamboo as a sustainable building construction material - ScienceDirect

attributed to the speed of its culm growth. The fast growth phase results from the expansion of individual internodes and, depending
on species, some culms can grow 3 to 30 m long within 3–4 months [10]. Since Bamboo is not yet featured in the mainstream list of
building construction materials used in the construction industry, its usage is limited to scaffolding, small sheds, and simple one-story
residences. The tensile strength of treated and untreated bamboo is high and can replace some of the commonly used materials in
buildings. Growing Bamboo is easy as the roots grow in the topmost soil and thereby grow very fast without much maintenance [11].
India has approximately 148 species in 29 genera of bamboos (natural and planted), mostly found in the deciduous and semi-
evergreen regions of northeast India and the tropical deciduous forests in northern and southern India. The North-eastern hilly states
of India cultivate nearly 90 species of Bamboos, 41 of which are endemic to that region [12].

Section snippets

Literature review

The first seminal study on bamboo was done by Ruprecht (1839) on herbarium specimens of bamboo and followed by Munro (1868)
and then Kurz (1876) presented some field observations and uses of bamboo [13], [14], [15]. The first comprehensive book on bamboos
in India enlisted 15 genera and 115 species [16]. Further many scholars published studies on the analysis and arrangement of its
species [17], [18], [19]. Research studies have been done on the use of bamboo in construction and scaffolding [20]…

Material and method

The bamboo specimen that has been used in this research is mature and 3 to 4 years old. Some Bamboo specimens were treated with a
borax solution, an eco-friendly solution used to control insects and fungus attacks on Bamboo. The treatment was carried on for three
days. Both treated and untreated sections of bamboo were used and tested by placing them in UTM (Universal Testing Machine). Three
tests were conducted namely the compressive strength test, tensile strength test, and shear strength to…

Properties of bamboo as a building material

Comparing the mechanical properties of bamboo with some commonly used materials such as concrete and steel, interesting facts
were seen (Fig. 1). The compressive strength of bamboo is found to be at par with the commonly used grade of concrete in residential
buildings. The majority of construction nowadays is done using M25 or M30 grade of concrete which means the concrete that is used
for construction can carry up to 30 N loads per mm2 of area. Table 4 shows that treated bamboo can perform…

Application of bamboo in buildings

Bamboos are modified and treated so that they can accept the shape and structural form as they grow. A squared cross-section can be
obtained simply by pressing the tail of the bamboo inside. Bending conditions can be made by compacting the bamboo into the perfect
shape. This would cost less than it would cost with a comparable structure in timber. For bamboo to be utilized as a structural
material, it can be given any shape, curve, and length as desired depending on the structural or…

PBSL (Parallel bamboo strand Lumber)

These are bamboo-based materials with maximum thickness, power, and unbending nature with different sizes as required. It is
factory-made bamboo which can be of any shape and dimension and these can be of any composite bamboo material which is cut and
made from different portions of bamboo of specific particulars goes under drying, smashing, wire drawing, gum plunging, hot
squeezing, and agglutinate together. The PBS is durable under extreme conditions and temperatures and it has a good bending …

Conclusion

The world has abundant bamboo resources which are worth exploring as the potential of this material is not being tapped properly.
Usage of bamboo as a material in buildings will reduce carbon emissions and promote environmental protection too. Research studies
need to be done more actively to characterize the advancement of bamboo materials, reinforce the market industry to concentrate on
bamboo materials, and open up effectively the potential outcomes of bamboo-based construction materials…

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Antony Kumar Boity: Data curation, Methodology, Investigation. Harveen Bhandari: Writing – original draft, Conceptualization,
Visualization. Saurabh Shukla: Data curation, Methodology, Investigation.…

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S221478532206031X 2/4
View publication stats

5/8/23, 2:35 PM Bamboo as a sustainable building construction material - ScienceDirect

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to
influence the work reported in this paper.…

References (32)

B. Sharma et al.

J.F. Correal et al.

Experimental evaluation of physical and mechanical properties of Glued Laminated Guadua angustifolia Kunth
Constr. Build. Mater. (2014)

D. Bhagat et al.
Fabrication and structural evaluation of fibre reinforced bamboo composite beams as green structural elements
Compos. Part C: Open Access (2021)

M. Mahdavi et al.
A low-technology approach toward fabrication of laminated bamboo lumber
Constr. Build. Mater. (2012)

K.F. Chung et al.

Mechanical properties of structural bamboo for bamboo scaffoldings
Eng. Struct. (2002)

L. Christanty et al.
‘Without bamboo, the land dies’: a conceptual model of the biogeochemical role of bamboo in an Indonesian
agroforestry system
For. Ecol. Manage. (1997)

M. Ramesh et al.
Plant fibre based bio-composites: sustainable and renewable green materials
Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. (2017)

F.F. Correal
Bamboo design and construction

B. Sharma et al.
Engineered bamboo for structural applications
Constr. Build. Mater. (2015)

S. Guo et al.
Global comparison of building energy use data within the context of climate change
Energy Build. (2020)

View more references

Cited by (0)

Recommended articles (6)

Research article

A comprehensive overview of metal chalcogenides for rechargeable batteries

Materials Today: Proceedings, Volume 71, Part 2, 2022, pp. 317-324
Show abstract

Research article

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S221478532206031X 3/4