Research on physical and engineering properties of unstabilised soil

Abstract

Soil improvement techniques are inevitable due to the severe hazards caused by excessive settlement of foundation, debris flow, destructive landslides and the further softening by means of infiltration of prolonged rainfall. The environmentally sustainable technique that utilizes a biological process for biomineralization is Microbial Induced Calcite Precipitation (MICP). Biomineralization is the process in which living organisms produce minerals. There are different metabolic activities that lead to MICP such as ureolysis, denitrification, ammonification, photosynthesis, sulphate reduction and methane reduction. In this study, the photosynthetic soil-borne bacteria is used to enhance the soil stability. The photosynthetic bacteria is isolated from the soil, the characteristic growth is studied and the most efficient strain is selected to be injected back into the soil. The final properties of the soil are tested and are expected to increase its strength. The initial and final variations in the surface of the soil are studied using SEM analysis and EDAX.