Bamboo material characterisation

This chapter serves to summarise the state of the art of the process of material characterisation of bamboo for structural purposes. It also seeks to outline the key characteristics a bamboo researcher or engineer would need to identify for this purpose. The morphological and anatomical characteristics of the bamboo culm are briefly presented. Trends observed by researchers in terms of the effects of density, age and moisture content on strength and stiffness are presented, as well as the variation of these along the bamboo culm. The importance of considering geometrical properties in characterisation, as well as physical and mechanical properties, is discussed. Testing procedures and standards are presented to the reader and critically appraised. Published values for Guadua angustifolia are reported for reference. A process of deriving design values from experimentally derived values is discussed. A brief critique to the concept of using bamboo reinforced concrete is included for reference. Suggestions for further research are presented.