Bamboo Fibre Reinforced Cement Used as a Roofing Sheet

Abstract

This study examines the use of bamboo fibre as reinforcement in cement mortar roofing sheets. The bamboo was beaten into meshes of needle like shape and used in varying proportions in the production of cement roofing sheets. A constant cement, sand ratio of 1:3 was used. Batching, Moulding, demoulding and curing of the roofing sheets were carried out using conventional construction methods. Loading tests were carried out using the Universal Testing Machine and by direct loading arrangement. Bamboo fibre roofing sheet was able to withstand an average load of 51Kg, which is above the minimum required strength of 50kg. Comparatively, Asbestos roofing sheets and coconut fibre roofing sheets of similar dimensions had failure loads of 104.65Kg and 79Kg respectively. When immersed in water, bamboo fibre roofing sheet had a change in weight of 0.4g/sec. Asbestos and coconut fibre roofing sheets had 0g/sec and 0.083g/sec respectively. Density tests showed that bamboo fibre-roofing sheet had a density of 3243.7Kg/m³ while Asbestos and coconut fibre roofing sheets had 2522.5Kg/m³ and 3027Kg/m³ respectively. Cost analysis showed that bamboo fibre-roofing sheet is 29.2% of Asbestos roofing sheet and 35% of coconut fibre roofing sheet. These results conclusively show that bamboo fibre-roofing sheet could be used as a low cost roofing sheet. It is however imperative that the roofing system should be at slope of 45^o – 60^o to ensure speedy flow of water down the slope and also reduce the shock effect when a lateral load falls on it.


Journal of Civil Engineering Research and Practice Vol.1(2)
2004: 107-118