Application of optimized bamboo fibre reinforced mortar in prefabricated bamboo reinforced wall panels as a sustainable building component

Abstract

The natural resources are getting exploited due to increase in population for the manufacture of regular construction materials like steel, bricks and cement. This leads to increase in the cost of these materials and worsen the environment by releasing more harmful greenhouse gases. This phenomenon leads to development of alternative sustainable construction. This article gives out a sustainable building element – a bamboo reinforced prefabricated wall panels. The flexural strength, rebound hammer test and the cost analysis were carried out on the panels to investigate its potential for its use in the low cost building projects. Along with the bamboo reinforcement for the panels, the other waste bamboo materials like bamboo Fibre (BF) and Bamboo Stem Ash (BSA) are used as additive and complementary binder respectively in the mortar. The optimum dosage is obtained and validated by adapting Taguchi’s approach. The experimental results proved that bamboo reinforced wall panel is 11% lighter and 16% cheaper than the conventional steel reinforced wall panels and the load carrying capacity reached to 72% of the conventional steel reinforced wall panel. The advantage of this panel over the conventional brick wall was enormous and there can be an alternative solution for low cost housing.

Keywords:

• bamboo fibre
• bamboo stem ash
• flexural strength
• rebound hammer
• sustainable construction

Data availability statement

The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article.

Disclosure statement

Both the authors declare that he/she has no conflict of interest.

Ethical statement

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Additional information

Funding

Both the authors declare that he/she has not received any fund for this research work.