Description
Although concrete is the most widely used building material in the world, its limited tensile strength makes cracking a common phenomenon in concrete elements. This study investigates the potential of autonomous self-healing as an eco-friendly and lowcost method to increase the durability of concrete. The crack-healing potential of different types of high-alkaline-tolerant bacteria or calcite-precipitation microorganisms is investigated. High-alkaline-tolerant bacteria and calcite-precipitation microorganisms were used to retrofit lab-fractured concrete samples. The samples healed with each of these bacteria groups were cast and tested under compressive load up to failure to measure the compressive strength of the concrete samples. The outcomes of experimental tests on concrete samples healed with biological processes demonstrate how this technique can be implemented when retrofitting durability-enhanced, eco-friendly concrete structures to improve the strength of durability of the material and ultimately improve the durability of many forms of concrete infrastructure.
Publication Date
5-2023
Publication Type
Report
Topic
Transportation Engineering
Digital Object Identifier
10.31979/mti.2023.2239
MTI Project
2239
Mineta Transportation Institute URL
Keywords
Self-healing concrete, Bacteria-based self-healing, Durability of concrete structures, Experimental tests
Disciplines
Construction Engineering and Management | Industrial Engineering | Transportation | Transportation Engineering
Recommended Citation
Pitiporn Asvapathanagul, Simone Galano, Andrea Calabrese, Mehran Rahmani, Maggie Ly, Daniela Flores, Michael Hernandez, and Nicholas Banuelos. "Experimental Investigation of the Self-Healing Potential of Bacteria for Sustainable Concrete Structures" Mineta Transportation Institute (2023). https://doi.org/10.31979/mti.2023.2239
Research Brief
Included in
Construction Engineering and Management Commons, Industrial Engineering Commons, Transportation Commons, Transportation Engineering Commons
