SELF HEALING BACTERIAL

CONCRETE

PRESENTATION
BY
noella rhea bernard
guided by
Dr.Nagraj sitaram

INTRODUCTION
Cracking

of Concrete is an inevitable phenomenon.

It

cracks and suffers serious wear and tear over the

decades of its expected term of service.

Self-healing

concrete in general seeks to rectify

these flaws in order to extend the service life of any
given concrete structure.

self-healing

concrete. Self-healing concrete consists

of a mix with bacteria incorporated into the
concrete and calcium lactate food to support those
bacteria when they become active. The bacteria,
feeding on the provided food source, heal the
damage done and can also reduce the amount of
damage

SELF HEALING BACTERIAL CONCRETE

Mainly

micro cracks with widths typically in the

range of 0.05 to 0.1 mm have been observed to
become completely seale.

bacteria

were externally and manually applied on

the concrete surface, while for autogenously repair
an intrinsic healing agent is needed.

The development of a self-healing mechanism in

concrete that is based on a potentially cheaper and
more sustainable material then cement could thus
be beneficial for both economy and environment

BACTERIAS USED

Bacillus cohnii

Bacillus filla

Bacillus parturii

HOW DOES BACTERIA REMEDIATE CRACKS?

CHEMISTRY OF THE PROCESS

Microorganisms (cell surface charge is negative) draw

cations including Ca2+ from the environment to deposit on
the cell surface. The following equations summarize the
role of bacterial cell as a nucleation site.
Ca2+ + Cell Cell-Ca2+
Cell-Ca2+ + CO3 2- Cell-CaCO3
The bacteria can thus act as a nucleation site which
facilitates in the precipitation of calcite which can
eventually plug the pores and cracks in concrete

ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES

The self healing bacterial concrete helps in reduced maintenance and repair costs
of steel reinforced concrete structures.

Oxygen is an agent that can induce corrosion, as bacteria feeds on oxygen

tendency for the corrosion of reinforcement can be reduced.

Formation of crack will be healed in the initial stage itself thereby increasing the
service life of the structure than expected life.

the strength of the concrete is reduced.

Hence preparation of self healing concrete costs double than conventional

concrete.

APPLICATIONS

TESTING OF BACTERIAL CONCRETE

Concrete disks are prepared containing the porous aggregates
filled with food only and with food and bacteria. The
specimens are cured for 56 days and then tested in a
deformation controlled tensile splitting loading to crack them
partially. After this cracking the specimens are placed in a
permeability test setup in which water is applied at one side
of the specimen for 24 hours. After the healing the cracks are
examined under the microscope and the results were
observed.

Test samples

Test setup

SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY INVESTIGATION

To give a visual documentation of the extent of mineral

precipitation in various regions within the cement mortar.

To characterize the microstructure relationship of the
precipitates and the filling material.
To confirm the elemental composition of the mineral
precipitates.
To identify microscopic evidence supporting the
participation of bacteria in mineral precipitation.

XRD ANALYSIS

XRD provides most definitive structural information.

It uses monochromatic beam for sample analysis.

Single crystal differaction mechanism is adopted in XRD.

XRD is based on the indexing the patterns.

Most effective in cubic specimens.

MICROSTRUCTURE
EXAMINATIONS

It is based on the micrograph obtained by scanning

electron microscopic analysis.

From the micrograph it was investigated the growth of

rod shaped fabulous deposition in concrete with
bacteria.

It also reveals the calcifying power of the different

bacterial micro-organisms and their interaction with
concrete.

BIOCONCRETE MECHANISM

Magnified image of full-grown calcite crystals with distinct and

sharp edges, found in the interior surface of the crack.

STRENGTH STUDIES
Controlled concrete Bio concrete
28 days strength
M20
compressive
strength (Mpa)

28.2

Split tensile
strength
(Mpa)

3.3

Flexural strength
(Mpa)

4.7

M40

M20

M40

52.01

32.74

61.06

4.51

3.73

5.13

6.11

7.73

6.11

COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH
COMPARISION
Bacteria

Specimen
Compressive
Strength

B. Pasturii

30

B. Subtiles

33

B. Sphaericus

28

B. Cohnii

29

CELL CONCENTRATION

DURABILITY COMPARISON
100

100

100

100

100
91.81

86.11

92.05

87.52

Durability Factor.

80

60

0 cycles

40

300 cycles

20

0
Control1

Control2

Bacteria1

Bacteria2

Mix Designation

Comparison of change in durability factor for specimens made with and

without bacteria and subjected to freeze thaw cycles

It was found that beams with micro cracks remediated with a bacterial
(Bacillus pasteurii) concentration of 8.6108 cells/ml regained 81.97% of
its original strength.
CONCLUSION
Higher concentrations reduced the regaining strength of the beams.
It was found that all the specimens with bacteria formed a layer of calcite
at the surface, thus improving its impermeability and its resistance to
alkaline environment, sulfate attack, deicing chemicals and freeze-thaw.
Scanning Electron Microscope was used to document the role of
bacteria in improving the durability aspects of concrete.
Thus it can be concluded that cracks remediated with bacteria can
improve the strength and the durability of the structure.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

B . Subtiles is found to be most effective microbiome for

the
The authors
gratefully acknowledge
the support for the
the research
by the
crack remediation
as it remediates
crack easily
National
Science
Foundation under
contract number
CMS-9802127.
The
and
helps
in development
of strength
in early
age.

SEM analyses were conducted in the Engineering and Mining

Experiment Station of the South Dakota School of Mines and