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Cell-free soil bio-cementation with strength, dilatancy and fabric characterization

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Abstract

A multi-disciplinary approach is adopted in the present work towards investigating bio-cemented geo-materials which extends from sample preparation, to microstructural inspection and mechanical behaviour characterization. We suggest a new way to induce “cell-free” soil bio-cementation along with a comprehensive description of bio-improved mechanical and microstructural properties. We utilize the soil bacterium Sporosarcina Pasteurii in freeze-dried, powder—instead of vegetative—, state and determine overall reaction rates of “cell-free” microbial-induced calcite (CaCO3) precipitation (MICP). We further investigate strength and stiffness parameters of three base geo-materials which are subjected to MICP under identical external bio-treatment conditions. Different trends in the mechanical response under unconfined and drained triaxial compression are obtained for fine-, medium- and coarse-grained sands for similar range of final CaCO3 contents. Pre- and post-yield dilatancy–stress relationships are obtained revealing the contribution of dilatancy in the achievement of peak strength. Medium-grained sand yields higher dilatancy rates and increased peak strength with respect to fine-grained sand. Further, insight into the bio-cemented material’s fabric is provided through scanning electron microscopy, time-lapse video microscopy and X-ray micro-computed tomography with subsequent 3D reconstruction of the solid matrix. A qualitative description of the observed precipitation behaviours is coupled with quantified microscopic data referring to the number, sizes, orientations and purity of CaCO3 crystals. Results reveal that MICP adapts differently to the adopted base materials. Crystalline particles are found to grow bigger in the medium-grained base material and yield more homogenous spatial distributions. Finally, a new workflow is suggested to ultimately determine the crucial contact surface between calcite bonds and soil grains through image processing and 3D volume reconstruction.

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(adapted from El Mountassir et al.2018 and enriched in data)

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Abbreviations

MICP:

Microbial-induced calcite precipitation

UCS:

Unconfined compressive strength

EC:

Electrical conductivity (mS/cm)

Rpm:

Revolutions per minute

OD600 :

Optical density measured at 600 nm

PVC:

Polyvinyl chloride

PDMS:

Polydimethylsiloxane

SEM:

Scanning electron microscopy

BSE:

Back-scattered electron

GSD:

Grain size distribution

3D:

Three dimensional

μ-CT:

Micro-computed tomography

CTC:

Conventional triaxial compression

\(\sigma_{1}^{\prime }\) :

Vertical effective stress

ε 1 :

Vertical strain

dε vol :

Incremental volumetric strain

dε q :

Incremental deviatoric strain

D :

Dilatancy rate

D*:

Theoretical dilatancy rate

M :

Slope of the critical state line

Η :

Stress ratio

η max :

Maximum stress ratio

m c :

Parameter related to interparticle cohesion

c :

Interparticle cohesion

\(p^{\prime }\) :

Mean effective stress

E i :

Initial elastic modulus

K :

Janbu modulus

P α :

Atmospheric pressure

N :

Exponent

φ :

Particle orientation phi

θ :

Particle orientation theta

\(\sigma_{3}^{\prime }\) :

Effective confining pressure

q peak :

Peak deviatoric stress

q res :

Residual deviatoric stress

E ur :

Unloading–reloading elastic modulus

D max :

Maximum dilatancy rate

D 50 :

Particle diameter at which 50% of the sample's mass is comprised of particles with a diameter less than this value

D 10 :

Particle diameter at which 10% of the sample's mass is comprised of particles with a diameter less than this value

e min :

Minimum void ratio

e max :

Maximum void ratio

C c :

Coefficient of curvature

C u :

Uniformity coefficient

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the support of the Lombardi Foundation and Prof. Pietro de Anna from the Geosciences Faculty of the University of Lausanne (UNIL) for his contribution in conducting the time-lapse video microscopy analysis. Additionally, the authors express their sincere thanks to the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) (Grant 200021_140246) and Swiss Federal Commission for Scholarships for Foreign Students (Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship ESKAS-Nr: 2014·0276) for their financial support.

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    Dimitrios Terzis & Lyesse Laloui

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Terzis, D., Laloui, L. Cell-free soil bio-cementation with strength, dilatancy and fabric characterization. Acta Geotech. 14, 639–656 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-019-00764-3

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