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Technical Papers
Jun 3, 2021

Effect of Biogenic Gas Formation through Microbial Induced Desaturation and Precipitation on the Static Response of Sands with Varied Relative Density

Authors: Liya Wang, S.M.ASCE https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6622-1437 [email protected], Yunqi Gao [email protected], Jia He [email protected], Yufeng Gao [email protected], and Leon A. van Paassen, M.ASCE [email protected]Author Affiliations
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 147, Issue 8
https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0002578
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Abstract

Several monotonic triaxial consolidated drained (CD) and consolidated undrained (CU) tests were conducted to investigate the effect of biogenic gas formation through microbial-induced denitrification on the mechanical response of poorly graded sand at different degrees of saturation (Sr) and varying relative density. The results demonstrated that the effect of desaturation on the mechanical response varied significantly depending on the relative density. For loose sands, the buildup of pore pressure during soil contraction is prevented. Consequently, the undrained strength increases with decreasing degrees of saturation, whereas dense sands indicate the opposite effect in which negative pore pressures resulting from soil dilation are suppressed, reducing the undrained shear strength. Medium dense sands displayed the highest increase in undrained strength, but the increasing effect displayed a peak value at a specific degree of saturation and decreased with a further reduction in saturation. Irrespective of the relative density, a critical degree of saturation exists at which a further decrease in saturation has no additional effect on the undrained response. Furthermore, it was indicated that the critical state line in the e-logp′ plane shifted as a result of biological desaturation, but the shift appeared to be independent of the degree of saturation within the tested range of Sr values from 0.57 to 0.94.

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Data Availability Statement

The data generated and used during this study are available in a repository online in accordance with funder data retention policies. Data can be found through the following link: https://osf.io/7aq3t/

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Postgraduate Research and Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province (No. KYZZ16_0270), the Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC), and the National Science Foundation (NSF) under NSF CA No. EEC-1449501.

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Go to Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 147 • Issue 8 • August 2021

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© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.

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Received: May 7, 2020
Accepted: Apr 5, 2021
Published online: Jun 3, 2021
Published in print: Aug 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Nov 3, 2021

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Liya Wang, S.M.ASCE https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6622-1437 [email protected]
Ph.D. Student, Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Geomechanics and Embankment Engineering, Hohai Univ., No. 1 Xikang Rd., Nanjing, Jiangsu 210098, China. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6622-1437. Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
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Yunqi Gao [email protected]
Ph.D. Student, Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Geomechanics and Embankment Engineering, Hohai Univ., No. 1 Xikang Rd., Nanjing, Jiangsu 210098, China. Email: [email protected]
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Jia He [email protected]
Associate Professor, Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Geomechanics and Embankment Engineering, Hohai Univ., No. 1 Xikang Rd., Nanjing, Jiangsu 210098, China. Email: [email protected]
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Yufeng Gao [email protected]
Professor, Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Geomechanics and Embankment Engineering, Hohai Univ., No. 1 Xikang Rd., Nanjing, Jiangsu 210098, China. Email: [email protected]
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Leon A. van Paassen, M.ASCE [email protected]
Associate Professor, School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, Arizona State Univ., 650 East Tyler Mall, Tempe, AZ 85281 (corresponding author). Email: [email protected]
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