Structural Behaviour Benefits of a Hybrid Steel-bamboo Emergency House

Abstract

According to the need of emergency houses all around the world, thedevelopment of a prototype (low cost and high strength structure) whichcould be placed anywhere becomes essential. This placement could be insusceptible areas to earthquakes, floods or armed conflicts. It has been studiedthe behaviour of a steel-bamboo hybrid structure compared with a steel-aluminiumhybrid one(in termsof strength).Finite elementssoftware hasbeenused to simulate both models. It has been obtained the maximum quantity ofbamboo which can be placed in the prototype achieving the optimum design.As far as strength is concerned, steel-aluminium is better than steel-bamboo;even though, it exists minimum difference (9.16%), which is despicableconsidering the advantages of bamboo. When using bamboo as alternativematerial, displacement varies because of the density of the elements. Thestructuralmodel becomeslighter and,according to that,it supposesan increasein the displacement (about 0.4 mm).