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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Helen Mitrani, Professor Anil Wipat, Dr Polly Moreland
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2024 by the authors. The employment of Microbially Induced Calcium Carbonate Precipitation (MICP) is of increasing interest as a technique for environmentally sustainable soil stabilisation. Recent advancements in synthetic biology have allowed for the conception of a pressure-responsive MICP process, wherein bacteria are engineered to sense environmental loads, thereby offering the potential to stabilise specific soil regions selectively. In this study, a 2D smart bio-geotechnical model is proposed based on a pressure-responsive MICP system. Experimentally obtained pressure-responsive genes and hypothetical genes with different pressure responses were applied in the model and two soil profiles were evaluated. The resulting model bridges scales from gene expression within bacteria cells to geotechnical simulations. The results show that both strata and gene expression–pressure relationships have a significant influence on the distribution pattern of calcium carbonate precipitation within the soil matrix. Among the evaluated experimental genes, Gene A demonstrates the best performance in both of the two soil profiles due to the effective stabilisation in the centre area beneath the load, while Genes B and C are more effective in reinforcing peripheral regions. Furthermore, when the hypothetical genes are utilised, there is an increasing stabilisation area with a decreased threshold value. The results show that the technique can be used for soil reinforcement in specific areas.
Author(s): Wang J, Mitrani H, Wipat A, Moreland P, Haystead J, Zhang M, Robertson MD
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Applied Sciences
Year: 2024
Volume: 14
Issue: 7
Online publication date: 28/03/2024
Acceptance date: 26/03/2024
Date deposited: 20/05/2024
ISSN (electronic): 2076-3417
Publisher: MDPI
URL: https://doi.org/10.3390/app14072854
DOI: 10.3390/app14072854
Data Access Statement: The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author.
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