Review on biologically based grout material to prevent soil liquefaction for ground improvement

Abstract

There is great interest among geotechnical engineers to develop environment-friendly grouting materials for ground improvement. Biomineralisation is the process where micro-organisms produce minerals; mainly carbonate products that provide a basis to develop ‘biogrout’. Biogrout could be an excellent material for the purpose of ground improvement with several advantages over current remedial measures, to improve the mechanical properties, to decrease the permeability of porous materials, and to modify the properties of soil. In this review article, the conventional soil improvement practices are discussed with their drawbacks. In order to overcome drawbacks of those conventional processes, state-of-art on biologically based grout material is proposed for soil improvement. Further, an attempt has been made to compile the current knowledge on biogrout and identify research gaps for future research.

Keywords:

• Biomineralisation
• calcium carbonate
• grout
• soil liquefaction
• soil improvement

Acknowledgement

Authors acknowledge Ms. Mengmeng Li for her help in literature search while preparing this manuscript.