Development of biocementation methods for sandy soil

Abstract

Existing soil improvement treatment includes physical stabilization, mechanical compaction and chemical grouting. However these conventional techniques have potential drawbacks such as noise and environmental contamination as well as high costs associated with machinery and equipment. Therefore studies on biological stabilization such as biocementation and bioclogging have been conducted in search of a solution to overcome these shortcomings. Development of biocementation methods on sandy soil will be studied in this project. The primary objective of this research is to study the degree of kinetic absorbance of culture liquid cells and enzymes on 0.015 mm fine sand, with the aid of different methods of insertion for the treatment. The experimental results showed that oven-dried sandy soil sample treated with cell suspension with pouring as the method of insertion, produced the best result, with the maximum unconfined compression strength of 512 kPa, while treatment with culture liquid by pouring is better than treatment with enzyme solution by pouring, with maximum unconfined compression strength of 449 kPa and 259 kPa respectively.