Strengthening Soils with Microbially Induced Cementation
Conference Year
2022
Abstract
Soil instability is a major concern for engineering and construction communities. In recent years, there has been increased interest in the development of more sustainable, bio-inspired geotechnical techniques. This research is focused on the bio-cementation technique of microbially induced calcite precipitation (MICP) to strengthen soils. MICP is highly dependent on environmental conditions and some field-scale applications have found calcite precipitation during treatment to be non-uniform and have “low certainty of execution.” This research aims to create a series of potentiometric biogeochemical ion selective sensors that can allow for the monitoring of the MICP reaction in real-time during treatment.
Primary Faculty Mentor Name
Dr. Mandar Dewoolkar
Secondary Mentor Name
Dr. Appala Raju Badireddy
Graduate Student Mentors
Robert Worley II
Faculty/Staff Collaborators
Joseph Boyd, MS, Hilde Schjerven, PhD
Student Collaborators
Wyatt Matyas
Status
Undergraduate
Student College
College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences
Program/Major
Environmental Engineering
Primary Research Category
Engineering & Physical Sciences
Strengthening Soils with Microbially Induced Cementation
Soil instability is a major concern for engineering and construction communities. In recent years, there has been increased interest in the development of more sustainable, bio-inspired geotechnical techniques. This research is focused on the bio-cementation technique of microbially induced calcite precipitation (MICP) to strengthen soils. MICP is highly dependent on environmental conditions and some field-scale applications have found calcite precipitation during treatment to be non-uniform and have “low certainty of execution.” This research aims to create a series of potentiometric biogeochemical ion selective sensors that can allow for the monitoring of the MICP reaction in real-time during treatment.