Feasibility of Bio-Cementation as a Potential Method for Mitigation of Landslides
Publication: Geo-Congress 2024
ABSTRACT
Landslides are one of the most catastrophic natural disasters. These calamities that are often caused by heavy rainfall, rapid snowmelt, and human activities may cause significant damage to people and property in the affected regions. The risk of landslides can be eliminated by investigating the probable cause of failure in the specific slopes and then mitigating them with an appropriate stabilization technique. Even though the available methods of mitigating landslides are highly effective, they may need to be more sustainable in nature. In recent years, microbially induced calcite precipitation (MICP) has proved to be a sustainable measure for improving the stability of slopes and preventing landslides. However, the efficacy of this method, considering various circumstances, such as soil type, slope geometry, the effective area of cementation, the effect of long-term exposure to climatic conditions, is a matter of debate among various researchers. In the present study, the potential of MICP to stabilize a homogeneous slope has been investigated numerically. Various parametric studies depending on the slope geometry and the effective areas of cementation were carried out to assess the efficacy of MICP in mitigating landslides in the chosen homogeneous slope. Preliminary analysis results indicate that MICP can effectively reduce landslides even with significant variations in soil type and slope geometry. However, certain constraints must be appropriately identified and addressed while designing such slopes. Based on these extensive numerical investigations, design charts can also be provided to determine the suitable range of parameters for slope geometry and effective area of cementation for designing an adequate bio-cemented slope in mitigating landslides.
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Published online: Feb 22, 2024
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Analysis (by type)
- Business management
- Cement
- Concrete
- Design (by type)
- Engineering fundamentals
- Engineering materials (by type)
- Environmental engineering
- Geohazards
- Geomechanics
- Geometrics
- Geotechnical engineering
- Highway and road design
- Landslides
- Materials engineering
- Mitigation and remediation
- Numerical analysis
- Pollution
- Practice and Profession
- Slope stability
- Slopes
- Soil pollution
- Soil treatment
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