Bamboo used for sustainable construction in seismic-risk areas

A team of Pitt students traveled to the Indian Himalayas in May 2008 to explore the use of… A team of Pitt students traveled to the Indian Himalayas in May 2008 to explore the use of bamboo as internal reinforcement in masonry construction.

The trip initiated research studies on the use of bamboo in areas of high seismic risk, Bhavna Sharma, a member of Pitt’s research team, said.

Bamboo poses advantages as a material for construction in the Himalayan hill region because of its rapid growth and potential to improve the seismic resistance of residential structures, Sharma said.

While on its trip in 2008, Pitt’s team established a collaboration with Sustainable Hill Environment and Design, which allowed them to team up with students at the Indian Institute of Technology at Kanpur, Sharma said.

Pitt and IIT-Kanpur teams co-wrote a proposal titled “Promotion of Bamboo as a Cost Effective and Sustainable Structural Material,” and submitted it to the Mondialogo Engineering Award.

Sharma said Pitt developed research and implementation plans as its responsibility to the proposal.

The Mondialogo Engineering Award granted the Pitt and IIT-Kanpur teams a silver medal for their project proposal, which includes a 10,000 euro prize, Sharma said.

The Pitt and IIT-Kanpur teams were one of 30 finalists, selected from 932 proposals.

Although the international project team struggled to communicate through different time zones with the proposal, it collaborated over emails, Internet chats and conference calls, Sharma said.

Sharma said, “Through our project we hope to promote additional types of bamboo construction in the local communities in the hill region.”

The role of the Pitt team was to conduct research on the material properties of bamboo in addition to exploring the durability of it, Sharma said.

When the group travels to India again in May 2010 for additional field research, new developments will be transmitted to local communities.

The method of using bamboo for internal reinforcement can be used in locations other than India. Regions in Africa also have potential to use bamboo to improve seismic resistance in masonry, Sharma said.

“While the technology we are working on is globally applicable,” Sharma said, “We presently are not focusing on implementation in developed countries.”

“The focus of the work remains sustainable solutions. This implies local solutions to local problems.”