Use of Bamboo in Soft-Ground Engineering and Its Performance Comparison with Geosynthetics: Experimental Studies
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 27, Issue 9
Abstract
The results of the laboratory investigation performed on clay beds reinforced with natural (bamboo) and commercial (geosynthetics) reinforcement materials are reported in this paper. To use bamboo effectively, three-dimensional cells (similar to geocells) and two-dimensional grids (similar to geogrids) are formed using bamboo (termed bamboo cells and bamboo grids, respectively). The performance of clay beds reinforced with bamboo cells and bamboo grids is compared with that of clay beds reinforced with geocells and geogrids. The bearing capacity of the clay bed increased by six times when a combination of geocell and geogrid was used. The ultimate bearing capacity of the clay bed reinforced with bamboo cell and bamboo grid was found to be 1.3 times more than that of clay bed reinforced with geocell and geogrid. In addition, substantial reduction in the footing settlement and the surface deformation was observed. The tensile strength and surface roughness of bamboo were found to be nine times and three times, respectively, higher than geocell materials. The bamboo was treated chemically to increase its durability. Although the performance of bamboo was reduced by 15–20% after the chemical treatment, its performance was better than its commercial counterparts.
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Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 27 • Issue 9 • September 2015
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 3, 2014
Accepted: Oct 21, 2014
Published online: Dec 5, 2014
Discussion open until: May 5, 2015
Published in print: Sep 1, 2015
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