[GSBN] Steel mesh in clay plaster + earthquake safe fire shelters

[RT]

I've no experience in building with earthen plasters but I must confess  
that I did find the notion of high embodied-energy steel reinforcement for  
earthen plasters, incongruous --not only because of the obvious Greenie  
issues but because using 200 - 400 MPa steel reinforcing with an earthen  
mix whose compression resistance might be in the range of 20 - 40 kg/ cm^2  
strikes me as being akin to to using a Sikorsky Sea King helicopter to go  
to the corner store to get a bag of milk.

I would have thought that a reinforcement strategy would include bamboo if  
only because it provides a larger cross-sectional area against which the  
low-compression-resistance earthen plaster is bearing. ie I would think  
that the relatively small diameter wire of steel or plastic mesh would  
create a scenario not unlike a wire cheese cutter going through a block of  
cheese, if push comes to shove (as in a seismic event).

I had a vague memory of reading about the U.S. Army doing some studies  
with bamboo as an alternative to steel in reinforced concrete in the '60s  
of the previous millennium and a quick Google turned up the following  
document as one of the first hits:

http://www.romanconcrete.com/docs/bamboo1966/BambooReinforcedConcreteFeb1966.htm

In looking through the document, the following sentence in the intro  
caught my eye:

============ copied material ==================
" Bamboo was given recent consideration for use as reinforcement in  
soil-cement pavement slabs in which the slabs behave inelastically even  
under light loads"
============= end of copied material ==================

The rest of document appears to contain plenty of useful, practical,  
factual info. like:

======= more copied material ===============

" When using whole culms, the top and bottom of the stems should be  
alternated in every row and the nodes or collars, should be staggered.  
This will insure a fairly uniform cross section of the bamboo throughout  
the length of the member, and the wedging effect obtained at the nodes  
will materially increase the bond between concrete and bamboo."

=========== end of more copied material ==========



-- 
=== * ===
Rob Tom					AOD257
Kanata, Ontario, Canada

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