Engineered bamboo

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Engineered bamboo is a set of composite products produced from bamboo. It is designed to be a replacement for wood [1] or engineered wood, but is used only when high load bearing strength is not required [2] because building standards for this type of use have not been agreed by regulatory bodies. [3] Engineered bamboo comes in several different forms, including bamboo scrimber and laminated bamboo, [4] which has three times the structural capacity as normal timber [5] and is defined and regulated by the ASTM International Standards. [6]

Engineered bamboo has been used as paneling, vehicle beds, concrete formworks, [2] lightweight building construction [7] and even for shelters after the 2004 tsunami. [8] In comparison to the woods that have been traditionally used, a number of benefits and drawbacks have been identified. Lower cost, especially when replacing wood that would otherwise have been imported, is a key advantage. [9] Further benefits include greater hardness and shape retention, especially in high temperatures. [10]

However, bamboo is not as resilient as most woods and will decay more rapidly than other woods if not treated with preservatives. [11]

New building methods have had to be developed for engineered bamboo as its properties are sufficiently different, and make normal wood-working methods used with (non-engineered) bamboo unsuitable. [12]

In order to overcome the typical loss of strength bamboo incurs when bending takes place post-harvest, an alternative method to overcome this has been developed.

Pre-harvest bending of the bamboo stems in zig-zags, allows the bamboo to later form a Warren truss. [13]

Alexander Vittouris has proposed a much simpler 2D S-bend shape, which — after harvesting, and in sufficient quantities — could be assembled into a variety of 3D shapes. The arboriculture technique used to make both shapes is similar to tree shaping, and result in parts similar to woodworking knees. [14] [15] [16] [17]

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Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing. Lumber has many uses beyond home building. Lumber is sometimes referred to as timber as an archaic term and still in England, while in most parts of the world the term timber refers specifically to unprocessed wood fiber, such as cut logs or standing trees that have yet to be cut.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plywood</span> Manufactured wood panel made from thin sheets of wood veneer

Plywood is a material manufactured from thin layers or "plies" of wood veneer that are glued together with adjacent layers having their wood grain rotated up to 90 degrees to one another. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured boards which include medium-density fibreboard (MDF), oriented strand board (OSB) and particle board (chipboard).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joinery</span> Where pieces of wood are fixed together in an assembly

Joinery is a part of woodworking that involves joining pieces of wood, engineered lumber, or synthetic substitutes, to produce more complex items. Some woodworking joints employ mechanical fasteners, bindings, or adhesives, while others use only wood elements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rattan</span> Material (vegetable source)

Rattan, also spelled ratan, is the name for roughly 600 species of Old World climbing palms belonging to subfamily Calamoideae. The greatest diversity of rattan palm species and genera are in the closed-canopy old-growth tropical forests of Southeast Asia, though they can also be found in other parts of tropical Asia and Africa. Most rattan palms are ecologically considered lianas due to their climbing habits, unlike other palm species. A few species also have tree-like or shrub-like habits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rebar</span> Steel reinforcement

Rebar, known when massed as reinforcing steel or reinforcement steel, is a steel bar used as a tension device in reinforced concrete and reinforced masonry structures to strengthen and aid the concrete under tension. Concrete is strong under compression, but has low tensile strength. Rebar significantly increases the tensile strength of the structure. Rebar's surface features a continuous series of ribs, lugs or indentations to promote a better bond with the concrete and reduce the risk of slippage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Engineered wood</span> Range of derivative wood products engineered for uniform and predictable structural performance

Engineered wood, also called mass timber, composite wood, man-made wood, or manufactured board, includes a range of derivative wood products which are manufactured by binding or fixing the strands, particles, fibres, or veneers or boards of wood, together with adhesives, or other methods of fixation to form composite material. The panels vary in size but can range upwards of 64 by 8 feet and in the case of cross-laminated timber (CLT) can be of any thickness from a few inches to 16 inches (410 mm) or more. These products are engineered to precise design specifications, which are tested to meet national or international standards and provide uniformity and predictability in their structural performance. Engineered wood products are used in a variety of applications, from home construction to commercial buildings to industrial products. The products can be used for joists and beams that replace steel in many building projects. The term mass timber describes a group of building materials that can replace concrete assemblies. Broad-base adoption of mass timber and their substitution for steel and concrete in new mid-rise construction projects over the coming decades could help mitigate climate change.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beam (structure)</span> Structural element capable of withstanding loads by resisting bending

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glued laminated timber</span> Building Material

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This page is a list of construction topics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natural building</span>

A natural building involves a range of building systems and materials that place major emphasis on sustainability. Ways of achieving sustainability through natural building focus on durability and the use of minimally processed, plentiful or renewable resources, as well as those that, while recycled or salvaged, produce healthy living environments and maintain indoor air quality. Natural building tends to rely on human labor, more than technology. As Michael G. Smith observes, it depends on "local ecology, geology and climate; on the character of the particular building site, and on the needs and personalities of the builders and users."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laminated veneer lumber</span>

Laminated veneer lumber (LVL) is an engineered wood product that uses multiple layers of thin wood assembled with adhesives. It is typically used for headers, beams, rimboard, and edge-forming material. LVL offers several advantages over typical milled lumber: Made in a factory under controlled specifications, it is stronger, straighter, and more uniform. Due to its composite nature, it is much less likely than conventional lumber to warp, twist, bow, or shrink. LVL is a type of structural composite lumber, comparable to glued laminated timber (glulam) but with a higher allowable stress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">I-beam</span> Construction element

An I-beam, also known as H-beam, w-beam, universal beam (UB), rolled steel joist (RSJ), or double-T, is a beam with an I or H-shaped cross-section. The horizontal elements of the I are flanges, and the vertical element is the "web". I-beams are usually made of structural steel and are used in construction and civil engineering.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Structural steel</span> Type of steel used in construction

Structural steel is a category of steel used for making construction materials in a variety of shapes. Many structural steel shapes take the form of an elongated beam having a profile of a specific cross section. Structural steel shapes, sizes, chemical composition, mechanical properties such as strengths, storage practices, etc., are regulated by standards in most industrialized countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plastic lumber</span> Building material

Plastic lumber is a plastic form of lumber made of virgin or recycled plastic It is mostly made of plastic and binders such as fiberglass or rebar; not to be confused with wood-plastic composite lumber. Widely employed in outdoor decking, it is also used for molding and trim and garden furniture such as park benches. Because plastic lumber displaces wood timber, it is a carbon negative and a carbon capture and utilization technology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Knee (construction)</span>

In woodworking, a knee is a natural or cut, curved piece of wood. Knees, sometimes called ships knees, are a common form of bracing in boat building and occasionally in timber framing. A knee rafter in carpentry is a bent rafter used to gain head room in an attic.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cross-laminated timber</span> Wood panel product made from solid-sawn lumber

Cross-laminated timber (CLT) is a wood panel product made from gluing together at least three layers of solid-sawn lumber, i.e., lumber cut from a single log. Each layer of boards is usually oriented perpendicular to adjacent layers and glued on the wide faces of each board, usually in a symmetric way so that the outer layers have the same orientation. An odd number of layers is most common, but there are configurations with even numbers as well. Regular timber is an anisotropic material, meaning that the physical properties change depending on the direction at which the force is applied. By gluing layers of wood at right angles, the panel is able to achieve better structural rigidity in both directions. It is similar to plywood but with distinctively thicker laminations.

HyperSizer is computer-aided engineering (CAE) software used for stress analysis and sizing optimization of metallic and composite structures. Originally developed at the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as ST-SIZE, it was licensed for commercial use by Collier Research Corporation in 1996. Additional proprietary code was added and the software was marketed under the name HyperSizer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bamboo construction</span> Utilization of bamboo for construction

Bamboo can be utilized as a building material for scaffolding, bridges, houses and buildings. Bamboo, like wood, is a natural composite material with a high strength-to-weight ratio useful for structures. Bamboo's strength-to-weight ratio is similar to timber, and its strength is generally similar to a strong softwood or hardwood timber.

References

  1. Yan Xiao; Masafumi Inoue; Shyam K. Paudel (2008). Modern bamboo structures: proceedings of First International Conference on Modern Bamboo Structures. CRC Press. ISBN   978-0415475976.
  2. 1 2 Wan Tarmeze Wan Ariffin (March 2005). "Numerical Analysis of Bamboo and Laminated Bamboo Strip Lumber (PhD paper)". University of Birmingham . Retrieved 2012-04-03.
  3. "Sustainable building: Building Codes". International Network for Bamboo and Rattan. Archived from the original on 2012-01-30. Retrieved 2012-04-03.
  4. B. Sharma; A. Gatoo; M. Bock; H. Mulligan; M. Ramage (October 2014). "Engineered bamboo: state of the art". Proceedings of the ICE - Construction Materials. 168 (2): 57–67. doi:10.1680/coma.14.00020.
  5. Wu Xing (March 31, 2010). "My Boo (Lamboo)". Architerials. Archived from the original on June 9, 2013. Retrieved May 28, 2013.
  6. "Lamboo Inc. Recognized Within ASTM International Standards". Woodworking Network. August 16, 2012. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
  7. Jorge A. Gutiérrez (2000). Structural Adequacy of Traditional Bamboo Housing in Latin America. National Laboratory for Materials and Structural Models, Civil Engineering Department, University of Costa Rica. ISBN   8186247440.
  8. Subir Bhaumik (18 December 2005). "Andaman tsunami victims still homeless". BBC . Retrieved 2012-04-03.
  9. Merlyn Carmelita N. Rivera. Silvicultural management of bamboo in the Philippines and Australia for shoots and timber. Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research. p. 11.
  10. Bansal, Arun K.; Zoolagud, S.S. (2002). "Bamboo composites: Material of the future". Journal of Bamboo and Rattan. 1 (2): 119–130. doi: 10.1163/156915902760181595 .
  11. W Liese (2004). "Preservation of bamboo structures". Ghana Journal of Forestry. 15: 156.
  12. Bhavna Sharma; Kent A. Harries; Khosrow Ghavami. "\"Work in Progress – Pushover Test of Bamboo Portal Frame Structure\"". University of Pittsburgh.
  13. Cassandra Adams. "Bamboo Architecture and Construction with Oscar Hidalgo".
  14. Alexander Vittouris and Mark Richardson. "Designing for Velomobile Diversity: Alternative opportunities for sustainable personal mobility" Archived 2012-09-16 at the Wayback Machine . "Section 4.4: Structural pre-harvest deformation of bamboo". 2012.
  15. Kimberley Mok. "Ajiro Bamboo Velobike: A "Grown Vehicle" That's Farmed, Not Factory-Made". 2011.
  16. Brit Liggett. "The Ajiro Bamboo Bike is Grown From the Ground Up". 2011.
  17. Stephen Cauchi. "Bamboozled? Give it a grow" 2011.