Calcium Carbonate Induced Precipitation for Soil Improvement by Urea Hydrolysing Bacteria

Existing methods for improving the engineering properties of soils are diverse with respect to their final outcome. Grouting by chemical additives is currently one of the most commonly used soil stabilization techniques; however, it may have some environmental, reproducibility and health concerns. T...

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Main Authors: Dekuyer, A., Cheng, L., Shahin, Mohamed, Cord-Ruwisch, R.
Other Authors: Chang-Koon Choi
Format: Conference Paper
Published: Techno-Press 2012
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/44028
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author Dekuyer, A.
Cheng, L.
Shahin, Mohamed
Cord-Ruwisch, R.
author2 Chang-Koon Choi
author_facet Chang-Koon Choi
Dekuyer, A.
Cheng, L.
Shahin, Mohamed
Cord-Ruwisch, R.
author_sort Dekuyer, A.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Existing methods for improving the engineering properties of soils are diverse with respect to their final outcome. Grouting by chemical additives is currently one of the most commonly used soil stabilization techniques; however, it may have some environmental, reproducibility and health concerns. These drawbacks and the increasing population in regions of limited land drive the need to develop new technologies for ground improvement. The aim of this work is to introduce and examine a newly emerging microbiological process, known as microbial induced calcite precipitation (MICP), for soil stabilization. MICP is a promising technique that utilizes the metabolic pathway of bacteria to form calcite precipitation throughout the soil matrix, leading to an increase in soil strength and stiffness. The study investigates the geotechnical properties of bio-cemented silica sand under different degrees of saturation at which bio-cementation occurs. A series of laboratory experiments are conducted including the sieve analysis, permeability, unconfined compression strength and consolidated undrained tri-axial tests. The results confirm the potential of MICP as a viable alternative technique that can be used successfully for soil improvement in many geotechnical engineering applications, including liquefaction of sand deposits, slope stability and subgrade improvement. The results also indicate that higher soil strength can be obtained at lower degrees of saturation, negating the belief that bio-cemented soils need to be treated under full saturation conditions.
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
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last_indexed 2025-11-14T09:19:14Z
publishDate 2012
publisher Techno-Press
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-440282017-02-28T01:48:19Z Calcium Carbonate Induced Precipitation for Soil Improvement by Urea Hydrolysing Bacteria Dekuyer, A. Cheng, L. Shahin, Mohamed Cord-Ruwisch, R. Chang-Koon Choi Existing methods for improving the engineering properties of soils are diverse with respect to their final outcome. Grouting by chemical additives is currently one of the most commonly used soil stabilization techniques; however, it may have some environmental, reproducibility and health concerns. These drawbacks and the increasing population in regions of limited land drive the need to develop new technologies for ground improvement. The aim of this work is to introduce and examine a newly emerging microbiological process, known as microbial induced calcite precipitation (MICP), for soil stabilization. MICP is a promising technique that utilizes the metabolic pathway of bacteria to form calcite precipitation throughout the soil matrix, leading to an increase in soil strength and stiffness. The study investigates the geotechnical properties of bio-cemented silica sand under different degrees of saturation at which bio-cementation occurs. A series of laboratory experiments are conducted including the sieve analysis, permeability, unconfined compression strength and consolidated undrained tri-axial tests. The results confirm the potential of MICP as a viable alternative technique that can be used successfully for soil improvement in many geotechnical engineering applications, including liquefaction of sand deposits, slope stability and subgrade improvement. The results also indicate that higher soil strength can be obtained at lower degrees of saturation, negating the belief that bio-cemented soils need to be treated under full saturation conditions. 2012 Conference Paper http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/44028 Techno-Press restricted
spellingShingle Dekuyer, A.
Cheng, L.
Shahin, Mohamed
Cord-Ruwisch, R.
Calcium Carbonate Induced Precipitation for Soil Improvement by Urea Hydrolysing Bacteria
title Calcium Carbonate Induced Precipitation for Soil Improvement by Urea Hydrolysing Bacteria
title_full Calcium Carbonate Induced Precipitation for Soil Improvement by Urea Hydrolysing Bacteria
title_fullStr Calcium Carbonate Induced Precipitation for Soil Improvement by Urea Hydrolysing Bacteria
title_full_unstemmed Calcium Carbonate Induced Precipitation for Soil Improvement by Urea Hydrolysing Bacteria
title_short Calcium Carbonate Induced Precipitation for Soil Improvement by Urea Hydrolysing Bacteria
title_sort calcium carbonate induced precipitation for soil improvement by urea hydrolysing bacteria
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/44028