Abstracto

Potential Application of Bacterial Inoculum to Increase Different Mechanical Strength in the Prepared Concrete

Gandhimathi, A, Suji, D, Rajesh, R, Elayarajah, B

Cracking in the surface layer of concrete mainly reduces its durability, since cracks are responsible for the transport of liquids and gasses that could potentially contain deleterious substances. So the objective of the present investigation is to study the potential application of bacteria, Bacillus sphaericus to increase different mechanical strength of the concrete. Conventional and bacterial concrete was prepared and its strength was evaluated using standard Indian Specifications. A significant increase of compressive strength, split-tensile strength and flexural strength was observed for respective B1 (100ml) and B2 (150ml) cell concentrations after 28 days of bio-curing. The Ultra-sonic pulse velocity value of B2 concrete revealed the self-healing properties when compared with the conventional concrete. The present study concludes that inexpensive alternative for laboratory growth media would potentially bring down the cost of the bacteria based self-healing sustainable concrete.