Flexural behavior of petung bamboo strip notched reinforced concrete beams

In Indonesia, many bamboo trees are found, including Petung bamboo (Dendrocalamus Asper). Bamboo has a high tensile strength enough, especialy on skin of bambu, so it has the opportunity to replace for steel reinforcing bars in reinforced concrete construction elements. This study will report the results of the use of Petung bamboo strips notched U shape as a reinforcement in concrete beams structural element. The bamboo strips notched U shape is expected to increase the bonding effects between bamboo reinforcement and concrete. Experimental studies were carried out in the laboratory. Distance between the notches are 5, 10, 15 cm with a high of notch size of 0.5 cm and width size of 1 cm and 2 cm. The specimens size test of the reinforced concrete beams is 11x15x170 cm. Based on test results, the bamboo strips notched U shape as reinforcing bars in concrete beams can improve the flexural capacity. (paper)