Compressibility Behavior of MICP-Treated Sand Treated under Unsaturated Conditions
Publication: Geo-Congress 2022
ABSTRACT
Microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP) is a soil improvement technique that has the potential to meet the expanding needs of society with marginal environmental consequences. In this method, biological activities of bacteria lead to formation of calcium carbonate at particle–particle contacts. Precipitated cementation links soil grains together and improves engineering behavior of soil. In recent years, the method has demonstrated promising results in a wide range of geotechnical applications where soil stabilization is mainly performed under unsaturated conditions. However, the deformation and compressibility behavior of unsaturated MICP-treated soil is yet to be investigated. A series of consolidation tests were performed on untreated and MICP-treated sand specimens. Specimens were treated by percolation in unsaturated conditions. Tests were performed in a modified consolidation setup equipped with bender element sensors. Consolidation test results indicated that unsaturated MICP-treatment significantly reduced compressibility of soils. A sudden collapse in shear wave velocity measurements with stress increment was observed in moderately cemented specimens that was less pronounced in lightly and heavily cemented specimens.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this chapter.
REFERENCES
Cheng, L., Cord-Ruwisch, R., and Shahin, M. A. (2013). “Cementation of sand soil by microbially induced calcite precipitation at various degrees of saturation.” Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 50(1), 81–90.
DeJong, J. T., Fritzges, M. B., and Nüsslein, K. (2006). “Microbially Induced Cementation to Control Sand Response to Undrained Shear.” Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 132(11), 1381–1392.
DeJong, J. T., Mortensen, B. M., Martinez, B. C., and Nelson, D. C. (2010). “Bio-mediated soil improvement.” Ecological Engineering, 36(2), 197–210.
Do, J., Montoya, B. M., and Gabr, M. A. (2019). “Debonding of Microbially Induced Carbonate Precipitation-Stabilized Sand by Shearing and Erosion Debonding of microbially induced carbonate precipitation - stabilized sand by shearing and erosion.” Geomechanics and Engineering, An International Journal, 17(April), 429–438.
Do, J., Montoya, B. M., and Gabr, M. A. (2020). “Scour mitigation and erodibility improvement using microbially induced carbonate precipitation.” Geotechnical Testing Journal, 44(5).
Faeli, Z., Montoya, B. M., and Gabr, M. (2022). “Reactive Transport Modeling of Microbial Induced Calcium Carbonate Precipitation Utilizing Various Configurations of Injection Wells.” Geo-Congress, Charlotte, NC, ASCE.
Feng, K., and Montoya, B. M. (2014). “Behavior of Bio-Mediated Soil in k0 Loading.” In New Frontiers in Geotechnical Engineering, 1–10.
Feng, K., and Montoya, B. M. (2015). “Influence of confinement and cementation level on the behavior of microbial-induced calcite precipitated Sands under monotonic drained loading.” Journal of Geotech. and Geoenviron. Eng., 2(Atcc 11859), 04015057.
Ghasemi, P., and Montoya, B. M. (2020). “Field Application of the Microbially Induced Calcium Carbonate Precipitation on a[1] P. Ghasemi and B. M. Montoya, ‘Field Application of the Microbially Induced Calcium Carbonate Precipitation on a Coastal Sandy Slope,’ in Geo-Congress 2020, Feb. 2020, vo.” Geo-Congress 2020, American Society of Civil Engineers, Reston, VA, 141–149.
Ghasemi, P., Zamani, A., and Montoya, B. (2019). “The Effect of Chemical Concentration on the Strength and Erodibility of MICP Treated Sands.” Geo-Congress 2019, American Society of Civil Engineers, Reston, VA, 241–249.
Gomez, M. G., Anderson, C. M., Graddy, C. M. R., DeJong, J. T., Nelson, D. C., and Ginn, T. R. (2017). “Large-Scale Comparison of Bioaugmentation and Biostimulation Approaches for Biocementation of Sands.” Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 143(5), 04016124.
Gomez, M. G., Martinez, B. C., DeJong, J. T., Hunt, C. E., DeVlaming, L. A., Major, D. W., and Dworatzek, S. M. (2015). “Field-scale bio-cementation tests to improve sands.” Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Ground Improvement, 168(3), 206–216.
Khodadadi, H. T., Kavazanjian, E., van Paassen, L., and DeJong, J. (2017). “Bio-Grout Materials: A Review.” Grouting 2017, American Society of Civil Engineers, Reston, VA, 1–12.
Lee, M., Gomez, M. G., San Pablo, A. C. M., Kolbus, C. M., Graddy, C. M. R., DeJong, J. T., and Nelson, D. C. (2019). “Investigating Ammonium By-product Removal for Ureolytic Bio-cementation Using Meter-scale Experiments.” Scientific reports, Springer US, 9(1), 18313.
Lin, H., Suleiman, M. T., Brown, D. G., and Kavazanjian, E. (2016). “Mechanical Behavior of Sands Treated by Microbially Induced Carbonate Precipitation.” Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 142(2), 04015066.
Montoya, B. M., and DeJong, J. T. (2015). “Stress-Strain Behavior of Sands Cemented by Microbially Induced Calcite Precipitation.” Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 141(16), 04015019.
Montoya, B. M., Evans, T. M., Wengrove, M. E., Bond, H., Ghasemi, P., Yazdani, E., Dadashiserej, A., and Liu, Q. (2021). “Resisting Dune Erosion with Bio-cementation.” In Proc. 10th Int. Conf. on Scour and Erosion, Arlington, VA.
Montoya, B. M., Gerhard, R., DeJong, J. T., Wilson, D. W., Weil, M. H., Martinez, B. C., and Pederson, L. (2012). “Fabrication, operation, and health monitoring of bender elements for aggressive environments.” Geotechnical Testing Journal, 35(5), 1–15.
Montoya, B. M., Safavizadeh, S., and Gabr, M. A. (2019). “Enhancement of Coal Ash Compressibility Parameters Using Microbial-Induced Carbonate Precipitation.” Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 145(5), 1–14.
Mortensen, B. M., Haber, M. J., Dejong, J. T., Caslake, L. F., and Nelson, D. C. (2011). “Effects of environmental factors on microbial induced calcium carbonate precipitation.” Journal of applied microbiology, 111(2), 338–349.
van Paassen, L. A., Ghose, R., van der Linden, T. J. M., van der Star, W. R. L., and van Loosdrecht, M. C. M. (2010). “Quantifying biomediated ground improvement by ureolysis: Large-scale biogrout experiment.” Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 136(12), 1721–1728.
San Pablo, A. C. M., Lee, M., Graddy, C. M. R., Kolbus, C. M., Khan, M., Zamani, A., Martin, N., Acuff, C., DeJong, J. T., Gomez, M. G., and Nelson, D. C. (2020). “Meter-Scale Biocementation Experiments to Advance Process Control and Reduce Impacts: Examining Spatial Control, Ammonium By-Product Removal, and Chemical Reductions.” Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 146(11), 04020125.
Terzis, D., Laloui, L., Dornberger, S., and Harran, R. (2020). “Full-Scale Application of Slope Stabilization via Calcite Bio-Mineralization Followed by Long-Term GIS Surveillance.” Geo-Congress 2020: Biogeotechnics, 65–73.
Yun, T. S., and Santamarina, J. C. (2005). “in Small-Strain Shear Stiffness in k 0 Loading.” Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 131(March), 350–358.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
History
Published online: Mar 17, 2022
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.