An Experimental investigation for improvement of sands using microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation

Date

2016

Author

Sarıçiçek, Yılmaz Emre

Metadata

Show full item record

Item Usage Stats

165
views

0
downloads

The development of innovative solutions to improve the engineering characteristics of sands becomes an emerging field of Geotechnical Engineering, as the environmental aspects, the economic feasibility and application practicability are concerned. In this scope, many improvement methods have been proposed to satisfy sustainability constraints, to reduce the overall the cost of construction and to be applied safely in the field. Among those, the use of biological means as derived from the nature gets popular which generally works through the process called Microbially Induced Calcium Carbonate Precipitation (MICP). Research studies indicate successful application of MICP based improvement using various types of bacteria and on several soils. Given the proven performance of MICP, this study aims to examine the MICP process thoroughly by comparing the calcium carbonate precipitation ability of widely studied bacteria, i.e., Sporosarcina pasteurii (ATCC 11859) and relatively under-recognized bacteria, i.e., Bacillus licheniformis (ATCC 14580) to outline the formation characteristics. For this purpose, two different sands are tested for observing precipitation behavior using syringes and then with a series of unconfined compression tests. Furthermore, various factors such as relative density of sands, concentration of substances for nutrition of bacteria, treatment numbers and durations are examined. The improvement in the strength characteristics of these soils are also interpreted with the use of sophisticated techniques such as X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Successful results of this study highlight many questions regarding MICP application in sands. With that, this study opens new horizons for future works.

Subject Keywords

Sand., Bacteria., Calcium carbonate., Geotechnical engineering.

URI

http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12620499/index.pdf
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/25922

Collections

Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Thesis

Suggestions

OpenMETU
Core

A methodology for detection and evaluation of lineaments from satellite imagery Koçal, Arman; Karpuz, Celal; Department of Mining Engineering (2004) The discontinuities play an important role both in design and development stages of many geotechnical engineering projects. Because of that considerable time and capital should be spent to determine discontinuity sets by conventional methods. This thesis present the results of the studies associated with the application of the Remote Sensing (RS) and the development of a methodology in accurately and automatically detecting the discontinuity sets. For detection of the discontinuities, automatic lineament an...
An accuracy assessment methodology for the remotely sensed discontinuities: a case study in Andesite Quarry area, Turkey Kocal, A.; Duzgun, H. S.; Karpuz, Celal (2007-01-01) The discontinuities play an important role in both the design and development stages of many geotechnical engineering projects. Therefore, semi-automatic detection of discontinuities based on remote sensing will save a considerable amount of time and cost. Accuracy of the semi-automatically detected discontinuities is also as important as the detection process, since the results directly reflect the uncertainty in the geotechnical problem. The current paper presents an accuracy assessment methodology for se...
An Analysis of public use bicycle systems from a product service system perspective Keskin, Duygu; Brezet, Han C; Börekçi, Naz Ayşe Güzide Z.; Diehl, Jan Carel (null; 2008-04-21) Recent studies on sustainability indicate that the concept of the Product-Service System (PSS) is a promising approach to dematerialise the economy and reduce the environmental impacts of industrial and consumption activities. Considering the urban scale, mobility is one of the challenges that should be addressed and improved for a better quality of life for residents and lower pollution levels for the environment. In this respect, this study aims at analysing Public Use Bicycle (PUB) systems from a PSS per...
A fuzzy logic tool to evaluate low-head hydropower technologies at the outlet of wastewater treatment plants Ak, Mumtaz; Kentel Erdoğan, Elçin; KÜÇÜKALİ, SERHAT (2017-02-01) This study aims to find the most sustainable mature Low-Head (LH) hydropower technology option to generate hydroelectricity at the outlet of wastewater treatment plants by assessing the relevant economic, technical, and environmental criteria. A total of six criteria are assessed: investment cost, payback period, energy generation performance, construction duration, fish-friendliness, and aeration capacity. The fuzzy logic tool estimates satisfaction of each criterion separately and then aggregates them int...
Determination of instantaneous breaking rate by Geological Strength Index, Block Punch Index and power of impact hammer for various rock mass conditions Aksoy, C. O.; Ozacar, V.; Demirel, Nuray; Ozer, S. C.; Safak, S. (Elsevier BV, 2011-07-01) In mining and construction industries, selection of appropriate excavation method and equipment significantly affects the project feasibility. In the selection, the most important parameters are the geomechanical properties of the rock mass in the excavation route as extensively reviewed in literature. The most widely used geomechanical parameter is uniaxial compressive strength (UCS). However, UCS laboratory test requires time consuming and expensive sampling and core sample preparation processes, which ca...

Citation Formats

Y. E. Sarıçiçek, “An Experimental investigation for improvement of sands using microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2016.