NEW MICROBIAL-FUNCTION-BASED REINFORCEMENT METHOD FOR EMBANKMENT

Abstract

In recent years, erosion control has been increasingly implemented for land embankments of
public roadways (e.g., express highways). In the field of geo-environmental engineering, it is important to
develop an easy-to-use maintenance method for such embankments based on a natural process. This study
aims to develop an eco-friendly and inexpensive maintenance method for embankment management. In this
paper, the general concept of the newly proposed method is presented based on the results of laboratory tests
and numerical simulations. The most important advantage of this method is the enhancement of urease
activity in the in-situ microorganism community. Laboratory tests showed that microbial carbonate
precipitation (MCP)-treated sand can increase the liquefaction strength. The numerical simulation results
show that an MCP-treated embankment surface shows a rigid frame structure. These results show that the
proposed method is suitable for use as an embankment maintenance method.