ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT: In order to use bamboo on a large scale as an engineering material, economically feasible, with a possible industrialization, it becomes necessary to study scientifically the plantation, harvesting, curing and treatment processes. After this initial stage, a complete statistical and probabilistic analysis of the physical, mechanical and micro-structural properties of whole bamboo culms of different species should be carried out. Since 1979, the research programs at PUC-Rio, supervised by the author, were mainly concerned with establishing the engineering properties of some of the existing bamboo in Brazil and creating new structural elements using bamboo for civil and rural construction. The present paper has as its main objective to present the physical and mechanical properties of whole bamboo culms in addition to determining the functionally graded composite properties using data processing imagine of the studied bamboo. The bamboo species studied were Dendrocalamus giganteus take from the PUC-Rio and Guadua angustifolia, take from the Botanical Garden of Rio de Janeiro, Guadua tagoara and Guadua angustifolia taken from of Guarulhos in the state of São Paulo and Phyllostachys heterocycla pubescens (Mosó) and Phyllostachys bambusoides (Matake) from the city of Presidente Prudente in the state of São Paulo. A concise report about the structural elements such as bamboo space structure and different structural concrete elements reinforced with bamboo in addition to the several successful constructions built in Rio and Sao Paulo is given.
