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If its anything like pressure treated wood in the us I would not go anywhere near it.
Also. Who funds this? This sort of looks like a rich persons pet project that won't go anywhere. It looks alor like I am busy saving the world sort of projects that maybe help a hand full of people untill somebody gets bord.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Don't we deal with the variability of natural products in lots of places by grading? This example is not structural, but every piece of beef has a USDA grade. I think it is a matter of coming up with a standard (maybe it is imaging each piece of bamboo) means of categorizing the qualities of concern, and then selling in grades. Each grade would indicate a minimum quality or set of qualities.
Structural engineers are weird. They want to be able to guarantee that a structure can withstand a certain load. Eg. They'll calculate the maximum load the floors will take (eg. if its an office and filled with filing cabinets) and then multiply that by a safety factor of 10 and design the structure to support that, at the very least. They'll probably make it even stronger so the structure never even flexes (which is…
It looks like there have been attempts to do the same thing with bamboo, starting with adapting existing lumber grading machinery (2)
I don't see why it would be impossible to use bamboo in engineering applications as long as the physical properties of a given grade of bamboo stock could be guaranteed.
I assume treatment for pests, rot and fungus would also need to be applied to guarantee that those properties remain inviolate, but am no expert on bamboo.
(1) - https://www.wwpa.org/western-lumber/structural-lumber/machin...
(2) - https://www.researchgate.net/publication/313531323_Grading_o...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s Indonesia, engineer doesn’t really mean what we think in the west. It’s more that someone is passionate about something, not that they have a civil engineering degree and are building to some code. There are engineers like we’d think in Indonesia of course, but they’re unlikely to work on a western lady’s pet project and are going to be a lot more expensive.
So more like a software "engineer" ?
And what effect do those chemicals have beyond just making bamboo fair the elements better ? If its anything like pressure treated wood in the us I would not go anywhere near it. Also. Who funds this? This sort of looks like a rich persons pet project that won't go anywhere. It looks alor like I am busy saving the world sort of projects that maybe help a hand full of people untill somebody gets bord.
Meh, even if it was some random pet project, it's not the worst way for them to spend their money / time.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If there is one thing spending time in SE Asia has taught me is that the value of human life is just different in some places. Good or bad, from scooters to skyscrapers. It’s just different.
Yes life is cheap there, people get sick, injured and die for preventable reasons all the time. Life expectancy is 10 - 15 years less than in developed countries as a result. The west I think mixes up politics with their world view which makes them think everything is equal somehow, it’s then surprising when they see such foolishness that leads to such suffering first hand.
When life expectancy is low and you may die at any time for all sorts of reasons, it is rational to take a lot more risks than if you'll very likely live past 80.
Every bamboo pole is different.. For this reason bamboo could never fit into modern engineering practices. Engineers use things like I-beams because, (in theory) each one is the same and they have been tested (probably millions of times) Their structural characteristics are known. So an engineer can sign off on a building and the team can get architectural indemnity insurance. Bamboo, and also things like using the e…
Wooden planks actually do regularly come with knots and large differences in strength due to the grain - we are able to work around this due to familliarity with them at all parts of the supply chain. As for why we use planks and not logs? They're all the same size - A lot easier to transport and use.
I am more interested in the engineering aspects of Bamboo than just the aesthetics. The entire video is about how unique it is, and how beautiful it looks. None of that matters if the whole house of cards falls over. There was an interesting brief comment about treatment to protect the Bamboo from rotting away but very little information was conveyed in the presentation. I wish they'd show the technical fundamentals…
I visited this bamboo factory - they soak the bamboo in a chemical bath (bromine I think?) and wash it off to make the bamboo harder and less vulnerable to pests. As such, the bamboo they are building with may have notably different mechanical properties than raw, dried bamboo.
The way I did the treatment was to use a long piece of sharpened rebar to punch out the membrane between the sections in the bamboo poles, leaving the last one intact. Then stand the poles vertically and pour in the solution and let it soak for several days. So I did not need a tank to soak them in. Also, soaking them in a tank is not very effective because the outer skin of the bamboo poles is pretty water proof so the solution doesn't soak into the walls which contain all the sugar that the power post beetles crave. After treatment you let them dry thoroughly and then they are ready for use.
You need to protect the treated bamboo from the weather since the chemicals are water soluble so the ends and any cracks will allow rain to leech it out and expose it to attack by fungus and pests. Also not suitable for direct contact with the ground for the same reason.
Other treatment methods I have seen that are aimed at converting the sugar to make the bamboo unattractive to pests: Roast the poles over a low fire - results in loss of strength. Soak them in a running stream for a few weaks - results in a very foul smell that takes a long time to go away.
Bamboo construction is very interesting but there are some real challenges with making good connections with it. It has great tensile strength which all comes from the skin of the bamboo. Putting holes in it, nails, screws, bolts cause the bamboo to split, making it difficult to take advantage of its tensile strength. Connections that grab the outer circumference make the most of the tensile strength but due to the high dimensional variance of bamboo nearly every connection ends up being custom made.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Don't we deal with the variability of natural products in lots of places by grading? This example is not structural, but every piece of beef has a USDA grade. I think it is a matter of coming up with a standard (maybe it is imaging each piece of bamboo) means of categorizing the qualities of concern, and then selling in grades. Each grade would indicate a minimum quality or set of qualities.
Structural engineers are weird. They want to be able to guarantee that a structure can withstand a certain load. Eg. They'll calculate the maximum load the floors will take (eg. if its an office and filled with filing cabinets) and then multiply that by a safety factor of 10 and design the structure to support that, at the very least. They'll probably make it even stronger so the structure never even flexes (which is…
Say we have a way to grade bamboo (this is the question mark in my argument). Grade X bamboo would support the floor in question. Grade 10X bamboo would support 10x the floor in question. For the floor in question, use Grade 10x bamboo.
I mean, it seems like something similar must be going on in structural lumber. Take 2x4s for example. This is one piece of wood out of a tree. There must be natural variation across the population of trees providing wood for these. How do we handle that except by saying that this piece of lumber meets minimum guarantees but may be stronger than that minimum, and is statistically likely to exceed the minimum.
Having been in SE Asia and Bali many times and seen how they spray chemicals against insects... I wonder how they handle that in the middle of the forest... I would never go there without an independant assessment... I love the design but I prefer something closed and airconditionned (mosquitos). Mosquitos are a major issue (even in cities): https://www.nea.gov.sg/our-services/pest-control/mosquito-co...
This is a valid critique of the design of that particular building, but not of bamboo as a building material.