Experimental study of MICP-treated sand enhanced by pozzolan

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  • Key Laboratory of Geological Hazards on Three Gorges Reservoir Area of Ministry of Education, China Three Gorges University, Yichang, Hubei 443002, China
XIONG Yu, female, born in 1994, PhD candidate, mainly engaged in the research on reinforcement of geotechnical material and its application.

Online published: 2023-02-21

Supported by

the National Natural Science Foundation of China (U2034203, U22A20600), the Innovative Group Project of Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province (2020CFA049).

Abstract

In order to improve the reinforcement effect of microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP) technology on sand, the test of MICP-treated sand reinforced by pozzolan was designed and carried out considering the porous structure and activity characteristics of pozzolan. The enhancement effect and enhancement mechanism of pozzolan on the MICP-treated sand were systematically analyzed by integrating macroscopic physical and mechanical tests and microscopic tests. The results showed that: 1) Pozzolan could significantly improve the bacteria fixation rate and cementation material production in the process of sand microbial reinforcement, and the optimal amount of pozzolan content was around 10%, which increased the bacteria fixation rate by 118.28% and the cementation substance production by 29.55% compared with the conventional MICP. 2) The addition of pozzolan greatly improved the compressive strength and resistance to deformation of bio-cemented soil. Under different confining pressures, the compressive strength of the bio-cemented sand increased by 52.26%−62.96%, and the strain at failure increased by 100.00%−112.58%. 3) After the addition of pozzolan, the pore size and void ratio of the bio-cemented sand were decreased obviously, and the overall compactness and impermeability performance were further improved, with the void ratio decreased from 20.12% to 14.17% and the permeability coefficient reduced by an order of magnitude. 4) The enhancement mechanism of pozzolan on MICP-treated sand mainly included three aspects: for one thing, the pozzolan played a good filling effect between the sand particles, which significantly reduced the large pores between the particles and increased the compactness of the sample; for another, the good adsorption of pozzolan effectively increased the content of bacteria in the sample, which increased the production of calcium carbonate and enhanced the uniformity of distribution; on the third hand, the active substances in pozzolan participate in the reaction to generate gelling substances and calcium carbonate crystals to form a composite gel, which could further enhanced the cementation properties and compactness of the bio-cemented sand.

Cite this article

XIONG Yu, DENG Hua-feng, LI Jian-lin, CHENG Lei, ZHU Wen-xi . Experimental study of MICP-treated sand enhanced by pozzolan[J]. Rock and Soil Mechanics, 2022 , 43(12) : 3403 -3425 . DOI: 10.16285/j.rsm.2022.5134

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