Improving the Effectivity of Dynamic Compaction Methods in Silty Sands through Microbial Induced Desaturation (MID)
Publication: Geo-Congress 2023
ABSTRACT
This study aimed to evaluate the potential of microbially induced desaturation (MID) to improve the compactibility of silty sands. Conventional soil compaction techniques for saturated silty sands often require either high compaction effort to achieve the desired results or even fail to reach aspired relative densities outright. A lab study was conducted on silt-sand mixtures with increasing amount of fines. The objective was to assess whether biogenic gas formation could be used as a pretreatment to increase the effectivity of soil compaction techniques. A two-stage method was carried out in which, firstly, a soil sample was desaturated by means of microbially induced desaturation (MID) through denitrification and, secondly, dynamically compacted using a vibrating table. The results of this method were compared to results acquired from dynamically compacting the same soil without pretreatment. The treated samples showed a considerable amount of swelling during the first stage as a result of gas formation. All treated soils were able to desaturate below the optimum water content. After compaction, the relative density of all treated samples with 15%–25% of fines was a factor 1.5 to 2 times higher compared to untreated samples using the same amount of compaction effort. At higher or lower fines content the MID pretreatment was less effective. The results of the lab tests provide proof of concept that MID through denitrification can be used as a pre-treatment method to achieve higher degrees of compaction on silty sands. Further scale-up is still required to evaluate the full potential of this method at field scale.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this chapter.
REFERENCES
ASTM. (2019). ASTM D4253-16e1 Standard Test Methods for Maximum Index Density and Unit Weight of Soils Using a Vibratory Table, ASTM international, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2016). ASTM D4254-16 Standard Test Methods for Minimum Index Density and Unit Weight of Soils and Calculation of Relative Density, ASTM international, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2014). ASTM D698-12 Standard Test Methods for Laboratory Compaction Characteristics of Soil Using Standard Effort (12 400 ft-lbf/ft3 (600 kN-m/m3)), ASTM international, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2021a). ASTM D6913/D6913M-17 Standard Test Methods for Particle-Size Distribution (Gradation) of Soils Using Sieve Analysis, ASTM international, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2021b). ASTM D7928-21e1 Standard Test Method for Particle-Size Distribution (Gradation) of Fine-Grained Soils Using the Sedimentation (Hydrometer) Analysis, ASTM international, West Conshohocken, PA.
Bray, J. D., and Sancio, R. B. (2006). Assessment of the liquefaction susceptibility of fine-grained soils. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 132(9), 1165–1177.
Eseller-Bayat, E., Yegian, M. K., Alshawabkeh, A., and Gokyer, S. (2013). Liquefaction response of partially saturated sands. I: Experimental results. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 139(6), 863–871.
Eseller-Bayat, E., Yegian, M. K., Alshawabkeh, A., and Gokyer, S. (2013). Liquefaction response of partially saturated sands. II: Empirical model. Journal of geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering, 139(6), 872–879.
Hall, C. A., van Paassen, L. A., Kamalzare, S., Parmantier, D., and Kavazanjian, E. (2022). Techno-Economic Assessment of Liquefaction Mitigation by Microbially Induced Desaturation, In: Proceedings of the ASCE San Fernando Earthquake Conference – 50 Years of Lifelines Engineering.
van't Hoff, J., and van der Kolff, A. N., eds. (2012). Hydraulic fill manual: for dredging and reclamation works, Vol. 244. CRC press.
Karol, R. H. (2003). Chemical grouting and soil stabilization. CRC Press.
Kavazanjian, E., O’Donnell, S. T., and Hamdan, N. (2015). Biogeotechnical mitigation of earthquake-induced soil liquefaction by denitrification: a two-stage process. In Proceedings of 6th International Conference on Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering, Christchurch, New Zealand (pp. 20–28).
Khodadadi Tirkolaei, H., Kavazanjian, E., van Paassen, L., and DeJong, J. (2017). Bio-grout materials: A review. Grouting, 2017, 1–12.
Mahabadi, N., Zheng, X., Yun, T. S., van Paassen, L., and Jang, J. (2018). Gas bubble migration and trapping in porous media: pore‐scale simulation. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 123(2), 1060–1071.
Mousavi, S., and Ghayoomi, M. (2021). Liquefaction mitigation of sands with nonplastic fines via microbial-induced partial saturation. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 147(2), 04020156.
Moug, D., Khosravifar, A., Preciado, M., Sorenson, K., Stokoe, K., Menq, F., and Wang, Y. (2020). Field evaluation of microbially induced desaturation for liquefaction mitigation of silty soils. In Proceedings of the 17th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering (17WCEE), Sendai, Japan.
Moug, D. M., et al. (2022). Field Trials of Microbially Induced Desaturation in Low-Plasticity Silt. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 148(11), p.05022005.
O’Donnell, S. T., Rittmann, B. E., and Kavazanjian, E., Jr. (2017a). MIDP: Liquefaction mitigation via microbial denitrification as a two-stage process. I: Desaturation. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 143(12), 04017094.
O’Donnell, S. T., Kavazanjian, E., Jr., and Rittmann, B. E. (2017b). MIDP: Liquefaction mitigation via microbial denitrification as a two-stage process. II: MICP. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 143(12), 04017095.
van Paassen, L. A., Pham, V., Mahabadi, N., Hall, C., Stallings, E., and Kavazanjian, E., Jr. (2017). Desaturation via biogenic gas formation as a ground improvement technique. In Proceedings of PanAm unsaturated soils 2017 (pp. 244–256).
van Paassen, L. A., Daza, C. M., Staal, M., Sorokin, D. Y., van der Zon, W., and van Loosdrecht, M. C. (2010). Potential soil reinforcement by biological denitrification. Ecological Engineering, 36(2), 168–175.
Pham, V. P. (2017). Bio-based ground improvement through microbial induced desaturation and precipitation (MIDP). PhD dissertation, Delft University of Technology.
Pham, V. P., van Paassen, L. A., van der Star, W. R., and Heimovaara, T. J. (2018a). Evaluating strategies to improve process efficiency of denitrification-based MICP. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 144(8), 04018049.
Pham, V. P., Nakano, A., Van Der Star, W. R., Heimovaara, T. J., and Van Paassen, L. A. (2018b). Applying MICP by denitrification in soils: a process analysis. Environmental Geotechnics, 5(2), 79–93.
Pham, V. P., van Paassen, L. A., and van der Star, W. R. L. (2018c). Quantifying the desaturation effect of biogenic gas formation in sandy soil. In: Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Unsaturated Soils, Hongkong.
Stallings Young, E. G., Zapata, C. E., and Van Paassen, L. A. (2022). Experimental Investigation of Microbial Induced Desaturation and Precipitation (MIDP) in a Layered Granular Soil System. In Geo-Congress 2022 (pp. 347–355).
Stallings Young, E. G., Mahabadi, N., Zapata, C. E., and Van Paassen, L. A. (2021). Microbial-induced desaturation in stratified soil conditions. International Journal of Geosynthetics and Ground Engineering, 7(2), 1–17.
Yegian, M. K., Eseller-Bayat, E., Alshawabkeh, A. S., and Ali, S. (2007). Induced-partial saturation for liquefaction mitigation: experimental investigation. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 133(4), 372–380.
Wang, L., Van Paassen, L. A., and Kavazanjian, E., Jr. (2020, February). Feasibility study on liquefaction mitigation of fraser river sediments by microbial induced desaturation and precipitation (MIDP). In Geo-Congress 2020: Biogeotechnics (pp. 121–131). Reston, VA: American Society of Civil Engineers.
Wheeler, S. J. (1988). A conceptual model for soils containing large gas bubbles. Geotechnique, 38(3), 389–397.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Geo-Congress 2023
Pages: 402 - 410
History
Published online: Mar 23, 2023
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.