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Influence of cementation level on the strength behaviour of bio-cemented sand

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Abstract

Microbially induced calcite precipitation (MICP) is used increasingly to improve the engineering properties of granular soils that are unsuitable for construction. This shows MICP technique significant advantages such as low energy consumption and environmentally friendly feature. The objective of the present study is to assess the strength behaviour of bio-cemented sand with varying cementation levels, and to provide an insight into the mechanism of MICP treatment. A series of isotropic consolidated undrained compression tests, calcite mass measurement and scanning electron microscopy tests were conducted. The experimental results show that the strength of bio-cemented sand depends heavily on the cementation level (or calcite content). The variations of strength parameters, i.e. effective friction angle φ′ and effective cohesion c′, with the increase in calcite content can be well evaluated by a linear function and an exponential function, respectively. Based on the precipitation mechanism of calcite crystals, bio-clogging and bio-cementation of calcite crystals are correlated to the amount of total calcite crystals and effective calcite crystals, respectively, and contributed to the improvement in the effective friction angle and effective cohesion of bio-cemented sand, separately.

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Acknowledgements

This work is funded by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2016YFC0800208), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (Grant Nos. 51478201 and 51308241) and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2016M600595). The authors are grateful for the financial supports. Special thanks go to the Analytical and Testing Centre at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) for providing Scanning Electron Microscope. The authors would also like to acknowledge the invaluable cooperation and assistance offered by Prof. Xiao-Yu Zhang’s research team at College of Life Science and Technology, HUST, particularly Mr. Xiao Zhang and Wen-Feng Wang.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geotechnical and Underground Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, Hubei, China

    Ming-Juan Cui, Jun-Jie Zheng, Rong-Jun Zhang & Han-Jiang Lai

  2. Key Lab of Highway Construction and Maintenance Technology in Loess Region, Shanxi Transportation Research Institute, Taiyuan, 030000, Shanxi, China

    Jun Zhang

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  1. Ming-Juan Cui
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Correspondence to Jun-Jie Zheng.

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Cui, MJ., Zheng, JJ., Zhang, RJ. et al. Influence of cementation level on the strength behaviour of bio-cemented sand. Acta Geotech. 12, 971–986 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-017-0574-9

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