Suppressing Drought-Induced Soil Desiccation Cracking Using MICP: Field Demonstration and Insights
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 150, Issue 3
Abstract
As a common natural phenomenon in clayey soil, drought-induced desiccation cracks impose danger to soil structures by degrading soil mechanical strength and hydraulic properties. In this study, through a series of field tests, we evaluated the effect of microbially induced calcite precipitation (MICP) technology on the suppression of desiccation cracks in field clayey soil and examined the impacts of MICP treatment methods (two-phase and one-phase methods) and cementation solution (CS) concentrations (0.5 and 1.0 M) on soil desiccation cracking behaviors and soil microstructure variation. The results revealed that MICP is capable of suppressing desiccation cracks in field soil. The surface crack ratio, average crack width, total crack length, and average crack depth decreased with the increase of treatment cycles and CS concentration. The two-phase MICP method performed better on soil crack suppression than the one-phase MICP method. Further distribution and soil microstructure characterizations indicated that the crystals generated by the MICP process contributed dominantly to the soil crack suppression by filling crack space, bonding soil particles, and reducing soil water evaporation. This study demonstrates that MICP is expected to serve as an eco-friendly and sustainable technology for soil desiccation crack suppression at the field scale.
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Data Availability Statement
All data in this study are available online (https://doi.org/10.17632/4fw5z9xsck.1).
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41925012, 42230710, and 42007244), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. BK20211087), and Key Laboratory Cooperation Special Project of Western Cross Team of Western Light, CAS (Grant No. xbzg-zdsys-202107).
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© 2024 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 12, 2023
Accepted: Nov 3, 2023
Published online: Jan 11, 2024
Published in print: Mar 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Jun 11, 2024
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Clays
- Continuum mechanics
- Cracking
- Engineering fundamentals
- Engineering materials (by type)
- Engineering mechanics
- Environmental engineering
- Field tests
- Fracture mechanics
- Geomechanics
- Geotechnical engineering
- Materials engineering
- Pollution
- Soil cement
- Soil mechanics
- Soil pollution
- Soil properties
- Soil strength
- Soil treatment
- Soil water
- Soils (by type)
- Solid mechanics
- Tests (by type)
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