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Effect of stress path on the shear response of bio-cemented sands

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Abstract

Bio-mediated techniques have the potential to be an eco-friendly and sustainable solution for engineering problems in the presence of unfavorable soil conditions. During the microbial induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) process, calcium carbonate is the byproduct of a series of biological and chemical reactions in the soil media. Although the shear response of MICP-treated sands with different calcium carbonate content has been extensively investigated, the behavior of this material subjected to varying stress paths with different levels of cementation and particle sizes is still unknown. In this study, the material behavior of MICP-treated sands under axisymmetric compression, radial extension, constant p', and constant q stress paths at moderate and heavy level of cementation is evaluated by conducting drained triaxial tests on specimens with relative density of about 40%. Shear wave velocity was measured during the course of treatment and shearing to monitor cementation and degradation processes. In addition, the effect of stress relaxation and compression after bio-treatment on shear response is evaluated. A previously proposed nonlinear failure envelope for MICP-treated sands is also verified by comparing the shear and normal stresses at failure with those predicted by the nonlinear failure envelope.

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Abbreviations

A :

Is shear strength parameters in \(\tau = P_{{\text{a}}} A\left( {\frac{\sigma }{{P_{{\text{a}}} }} + T} \right)^{n}\)

D :

Particle diameter

n :

Is shear strength parameters in \(\tau = P_{{\text{a}}} A\left( {\frac{\sigma }{{P_{{\text{a}}} }} + T} \right)^{n}\)

n' :

Is a constant indicating the dependency of shear wave velocity to effective stress

p' :

Is mean effective stress (kPa)

P a :

Is atmospheric pressure (kPa)

q :

Is deviatoric stress (kPa)

(q/p')failure :

Is stress ratio at failure

T :

Is shear strength parameters in \(\tau = P_{{\text{a}}} A\left( {\frac{\sigma }{{P_{{\text{a}}} }} + T} \right)^{n}\)

V s :

Is shear wave velocity (m/s)

V s1 :

Is normalized shear wave velocity at 100 kPa (m/s)

\(\sigma _{1}^{\prime }\) :

Is major principal effective stress (kPa)

\(\sigma _{3}^{\prime }\) :

Is minor principal effective stress and effective confining pressure (kPa)

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Acknowledgements

Funding from the National Science Foundation (CMMI #1537007, 1538460, and 1554056) is appreciated. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions presented in this paper are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the National Science Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Terracon Consultants Inc., Germantown, MD, 20876, USA

    Ashkan Nafisi & Brina M. Montoya

  2. Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA

    Qianwen Liu

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  1. Ashkan Nafisi
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Correspondence to Ashkan Nafisi.

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Nafisi, A., Liu, Q. & Montoya, B.M. Effect of stress path on the shear response of bio-cemented sands. Acta Geotech. 16, 3239–3251 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-021-01286-7

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