Effect of Chemical Constituents on The Mechanical Strength of Microbially Induced Bio-cemented Soil

The use of bio-based soil improvement techniques to enhance sandy soil's mechanical behavior has shown significant potential in the past two decades to replace conventional cementitious techniques. In this study, the effect of both cementing solution (CS) concentration and the number of treatment cycles on the compressive strength of bio-cemented sand using microbially induced carbonate precipitation (MICP). The study was conducted at only one bacterial concentration of 16 U/mL with four levels of CS concentration. It was found that the lower CS conditions (0.25 M); the higher the strength gain with the increase of the number of treatment cycles. This may be attributed to the carbonate crystals distribution that effectively bridges soil particles at lower CS concentrations with the increase of cycles.