Digitisation of bamboo culms for structural applications

Abstract

Reducing the negative environmental impact caused by the intensive manufacturing of industrialised building materials and components requires the adoption of alternative sustainable resources and the development of appropriate procedures to encourage their use in the construction industry. Bamboo in its natural form (culms or poles) is one of the most promising non-conventional sustainable building materials, endemic to most developing countries where high demand for building materials will be driven by the large-scale urbanisation predicted for the coming decades. The use of bamboo poles as structural elements poses multiple challenges starting with the need to define their inherent geometric variability to enable their inclusion in formal design and fabrication processes. This paper describes the details of a non-destructive 3D scanning and modelling workflow developed to capture and process the relevant digital information that describes the geometric properties of bamboo poles. The digitisation of over 230 poles with a combined length of 500 m was carried out confirming the accuracy of the generated geometric models. Also, a small reciprocal frame prototype was successfully developed based on the geometric information extracted from a 3D model of the structure incorporating the digitised poles. The effective digitisation of bamboo poles and its integration into modern platforms can provide the construction industry with the necessary support to design, build and maintain high quality structures that incorporate this sustainable and renewable resource.