Bamboo as an alternative construction material for building enclosures.

Abstract

Bamboo (Guadua Angustifolia) has been used as a construction material due to its physical and mechanical properties. The species has been found in the north-central area of the country, in controlled plantations at the Zamorano Pan-American Agricultural School and in the Lancetilla Botanical Garden, therefore, this work has been carried out with the objective of proposing the cultivation of this species of bamboo in favorable areas of the country, to use it in building enclosures, specifically for walls and roofs. To mechanically characterize this species of bamboo, the compressive and flexural strength (psi) has been calculated from laboratory tests and statistics have been used to define a linear equation for this purpose, so that the expected resistance (dependent variable), through independent variables, such as the contact area (in²), height (inches), density (pounds/in³) and thickness/thickness (in), of the bamboo samples obtained from the “Cerro Juana Laínez” Park, Tegucigalpa, MDC. And finally, by comparing the results obtained in this research with the resistance generated in other studies, it has been possible to verify that bamboo could be a viable alternative to execute certain construction systems in buildings, such as enclosures and covers, but always under the recommendation to carry out more studies on the mechanical behavior of bamboo.