Engineered Bamboo’s Further Application: An Empirical Study in China

The trend of sustainable development has been followed more globally nowadays. There is an urgent need for ecological friendly construction materials in China since the use of concrete produces pollution and leads to inefficient use of energy. Bamboo can effectively address the sustainability trends due to: lightweight construction, little adverse impact on the environment, and anti-seismic properties. However, bamboo products utilization has been very limited. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility to further utilize bamboo products in the construction industry in China. A review of engineered bamboo products utilization in China, and oversees was conducted. Based on this, a survey focusing on the current situation and suitability of bamboo products was carried out to study their feasibility, and preliminary testing on bonding shear strength for different configurations are presented. The results are promising, in particular the relatively low clamping pressure of 0.6 MPa seems to be sufficient for bonding, and it is clear that engineered bamboo products have a great potential in China. However, further more comprehensive studies on the performance of the laminated bamboo are needed.