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Sandstorms are meteorological phenomena common in arid and semi-arid regions and have been recognized severe natural disasters worldwide. The key problem is how to control and mitigate sandstorm natural disasters. This research aims to mitigate their development by improving surface stability and soil water retention properties through soil mineral...
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In the process of microbial curing of desert aeolian sandy soil, we thought of the water-holding properties of straw flour in view of the high proportion of fine particles and poor water retention of desert aeolian sandy soil, and therefore designed an experiment to add straw flour to enhance the effect of microbial curing of desert aeolian sandy s...
Citations
... They discovered that SICP-treatment can significantly enhance soil surface strength and wind erosion resistance by reinforcing the cohesion among loose soil particles. Miao et al. (2020) examined the effectiveness of soybean urease induced mineralization on the wind erosion resistance of sand. They concluded that the precipitates can alter the sand structure, reducing the mass loss rate under strong wind. ...
... Prior studies have used some erosion devices to simulate wind erosion, such as a wind blower (Miao et al. 2020) or a sirocco fan (Song et al. 2020). To simulate the wind-blown sand erosion in the professional wind tunnels, these wind erosion devices should be able to continuously produce a stable airflow with sufficient velocity to entrain sand particles and simulate sand erosion (Yang et al. 2020). ...
Background and aims
Revegetation is widely acknowledged as one of the most common and effective strategies for wind erosion control. However, efficient measures need to be taken to protect plant seedlings from wind erosion during the early growth. Enzyme induced carbonate precipitation using soybean urease (SICP) has emerged as an effective technique for wind erosion control. This study aims to investigate the effect of SICP on seed emergence and seedling growth of Caragana korshinskii Kom and its application in wind erosion control.
Methods
Twelve plexiglas test chambers were constructed to investigate the effects of four concentrations of SICP treatment (0, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 mol/L) on the seed emergence and seedling growth behavior of Caragana korshinskii Kom and wind erosion resistance of vegetated desert sand.
Results
The seed emergence percentage of T-0.1, T-0.2 and T-0.3 decreased by 17.5%, 45%, and 71.25% compared to that of T-0 due to the increased soil hardness. T-0.1 with relatively low soil hardness and chloride content shows no significant difference in seedling growth properties from T-0. The seedling height, vegetation coverage, and root length density decreased with increasing concentration in T-0.2 and T-0.3. The soil mass loss of T-0.1 is 63.2%, 3% and 39% lower than that of T-0, T-0.2 and T-0.3.
Conclusion
SICP-treatment can provide substantial improvements in wind erosion resistance for desert sand during early plant growth. Cementation solution with 0.1 mol/L is recommended as it would not significantly inhibit the seedling growth and can provide sufficient benefits in soil erosion resistance.
... The outcomes of domestic and international geotechnical engineering investigations in utilizing EICP technology have shown better results in enhancing the strength of silty and sandy soils [33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47]. Likewise, several laboratory procedures, including unconfined compressive strength (UCS) tests [48,49], permeability tests [50,51], and triaxial tests [52], have been used to evaluate the improved mechanical properties of treated soil. The data consistently shows that EICP treatment favors soil mechanical properties, with significant improvements in UCS strength, cohesion, and internal friction angle. ...
Enzyme induced carbonate precipitation (EICP) is a new bio-cementation technique that utilizes plant-sourced urease to catalyze urea degradation and reaction with calcium iron, resulting in the formation of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) for soil improvement. EICP has considerable promise for novel and sustainable engineering applications such as soil strengthening, pollutant remediation, and other in situ field applications. In this study, the effect of EICP on the geotechnical characteristics of expansive soil is examined. A series of laboratory tests have been performed with an optimal concentration ratio of 0.75 mol/L. The outcomes of the compaction experiment indicated a slight increment in the dry density of the expansive soil from 15.78 to 16.71 kN/m3.Further, it diminished the optimal moisture content of the soil, decreasing it from 22.3 to 18.5%. The utilization of EICP improves the soil mechanical characteristics, reducing swelling pressure by 80% and increasing the UCS, cohesion, friction angle, unsoaked and soaked CBR by 66%, 44%, 49%, 441%, and 430%, approximately. Additionally, it leads to a significant decrease in soil permeability, approximately 63%. Moreover, SEM and XRD analysis confirmed the presence of CaCO3 content in the treated soil. The experimental findings indicated that the EICP method holds promise in enhancing expansive soil within engineering projects.
... This state-of-the-art technology has been extensively studied in recent years (Warszawski and Navon, 1998;Rahul et al., 2019;Liu and Sun, 2021;Yekai et al., 2022), fundamentally revolutionizing the design, delivery, and construction of structures by leveraging advancements in building automation and 3DCP methodologies. By utilizing digital fabrication methods and concrete materials, 3DCP has the potential to achieve significant reductions in construction waste by 30%-60%, substantial decreases in construction time by 50%-70%, and substantial decreases in labor costs by 50%-80% (Khoshnevis, 2004;Hamidi and Aslani, 2019;Rahul et al., 2019;Zhang et al., 2019;Miao et al., 2020). Furthermore, this groundbreaking technology demonstrates modeless manufacturing, enabling rapid and seamless construction while promoting energy conservation and environmental preservation. ...
... Furthermore, this groundbreaking technology demonstrates modeless manufacturing, enabling rapid and seamless construction while promoting energy conservation and environmental preservation. Moreover, it provides architects and structural designers with an opportunity to enhance their creative freedom and explore innovative materials, modern systems, and upgraded structures (Khoshnevis, 2004;Zhang et al., 2019;Miao et al., 2020). However, the widespread adoption of this technology is hindered by the limited availability of printable concretes and the complex challenges associated with reinforcement, in contrast to traditional construction methods and reinforcement techniques. ...
The limitations in the available reinforcing methods have accompanied the increasing popularity of 3D Concrete Printing (3DCP). Incorporating steel fibers as reinforcement is a promising approach to overcome these limitations. However, the impact of the printing process on the alignment of these fibers is not well understood. Therefore, the objective of this research is to quantitatively analyze the distribution of steel fiber alignment in 3D printed concrete. To achieve this, digital image analysis was employed to assess the influence of nozzle diameter, print speed, and fiber content on fiber alignment in both mold-cast and 3D-printed samples. UHPC matrix without fiber addition and fiber reinforced UHPC composites with brass-coated steel fiber contents of 1.5% and 3% by volume fraction were printed. Furthermore, Material nozzles ranging from 10 mm to 40 mm in size were employed and printing speeds of 15, 25, 35, and 45 mm/s were adjusted. Subsequently, the study examined the implications of fiber alignment on the hardened performance of printed specimens and compared them with conventionally mold-cast samples. The findings of the study demonstrated that increasing the fiber content and using smaller diameter nozzles during the printing procedure led to significant improvements in fiber orientation along the printing direction. As a result, the mechanical performance of the printed samples showed a substantial enhancement compared to the specimens produced through mold casting, primarily due to the improved fiber alignment.
... The measurement of surface strength is an effective index to estimate the erosion resistance whether caused by wind or water, which is normally measured by the soil durometer and micro-penetrometer tests (Gao et al. 2020;Miao et al. 2020a;Sun et al. 2021aSun et al. , 2021bSun et al. , 2021c. In some studies, the term 'penetration resistance' is an alternative parameter to be used to evaluate the performance of erosion control, which was obtained by pocket penetrometers (Maleki et Table 1. ...
... Chek From another perspective, with a given volume of MICP/EICP solution in one treatment cycle, increasing the total volume of MICP/EICP solution, in other words, multiple treatment cycles would result in better erosion resistance to wind or rainfall . Miao et al. (2020a) suggested that the mass loss rate of EICP-treated sand was 2.23%, 1.61%, and 0.11% with the EICP solution sprayed 2, 4, and 6 times, respectively. Cheng et al. (2021) indicated that the surface strength, the thickness of crust layers, and the CaCO 3 content of MICP-treated soil increased obviously with the treatment cycles increasing from 3 to 7 times. ...
... Improving the wind erosion resistance of desert sand is critical to anti-desertification. Numerous studies utilizing MICP/EICP to mitigate wind erosion have been conducted over the last ten years (e.g., Gomez et al. 2015;Hamdan & Kavazanjian 2016;Gao et al. 2020;Miao et al. 2020aMiao et al. , 2020band Sun et al. 2021aand Sun et al. , 2021band Sun et al. , 2022c. Current achievements at laboratory-scale tests provide sufficient proof-to-concept to erosion control, while large-scale and field-scale trials set the basis for implementing this method towards real applications in anti-desertification. Attempts to optimize the treatment strategies to target specific environmental conditions revealed the potential for anti-desertification and pointed out the challenges that need to be addressed (Almajed et al. 2020;Sun et al. 2021aSun et al. , 2021b. ...
In recent years, the application of microbially induced calcite precipitation (MICP) and enzyme-induced carbonate precipitation (EICP) techniques have been extensively studied to mitigate soil erosion, yielding substantial achievements in this regard. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the recent progress in erosion control by MICP and EICP techniques. To further discuss the effectiveness of erosion mitigation in-depth, the estimation methods and characterization of erosion resistance were initially compiled. Moreover, factors affecting the erosion resistance of MICP/EICP-treated soil were expounded, spanning from soil properties to treatment protocols and environmental conditions. The development of optimization and upscaling in erosion mitigation via MICP/EICP was also included in this review. In addition, this review discussed the limitations and correspondingly proposed prospective applications of erosion control via the MICP/EICP approach. The current review presents up-to-date information on the research activities for improving erosion resistance by MICP/EICP, aiming at providing insights for interdisciplinary researchers and guidance for promoting this method to further applications in erosion mitigation.
... including Ottawa 20-30 sand, desert sands, and other granular soils (Cui et al., 2022;Miao et al., 2020;Meng et al., 2021;Gao et al., 2019). The wide adaptability make the great potential of MICP in various geotechnical applications, such as soil improvement (Cui et al., 2022;Xu et al., 2023), dust control (Sun et al., 2021), and heavy metal immobilization (Xue et al., 2022). ...
Microbial-induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) technique have the potential to be an eco-friendly and sustainable solution for engineering problems that has presented promise in various geotechnical applications. Despite the extensive amounts of studies about the MICP technique has been conducted recently, there are few studies on the constitutive model of MICP-treated specimens. In this study, the statistical damage constitutive model of MICP-treated specimens was established based on the statistical theory and damage mechanics theory. The model assumed that the microelement strength of bio-cemented sand obeys the log-normal random distribution and the D-P criterion. The parameters S 0 and F 0 in the constitutive model were determined and the physical significance of parameters were discussed accordingly. The reasonableness of the proposed model were verified by comparing the theoretical results and the experimental results. The evolution of the damage variable ( D ), parameter S 0 and parameter F 0 with different calcium carbonate content ( CCC ) were analyzed. The statistical damage models based on log-normal distributions was then compared with that based on Weibull distributions. The results show that the parameter F 0 and S 0 can reflect the limiting strength and brittleness of MICP-treated specimens, respectively. The damage rate accelerates with increase in cementation level, leading to larger damage values. The damage variables eventually reaches a stable value as the axial deformation increases. The proposed model can reflect the strain softening and strain hardening phenomena well, which can also represent the shear expansion and shear contraction characteristics of the volume strain curve. Overall, the research in this study provide some theoretical support for the engineering application of MICP-treated specimens.
... Rice et al (1996) reviewed several measurement methods and recommended the use of the penetrometer method to evaluate the crust's ability to resist the abrasive action. Consequently, surface strength was measured in several studies (Callebaut et al., 1985;Ulusay and Erguler, 2012;Miao et al., 2020a;Dagliya et al., 2022). Following the tidal cycle simulation, the surface strength of slopes was measured using a soil penetrometer (type: WISO-750-1, Juchuang company, Shandong, China) to compare the MIMCP treatment effect. ...
In most coastal and estuarine areas, tides easily cause surface erosion and even slope failure, resulting in severe land losses, deterioration of coastal infrastructure, and increased floods. The bio-cementation technique has been previously demonstrated to effectively improve the erosion resistance of slopes. Seawater contains magnesium ions (Mg2+) with a higher concentration than calcium ions (Ca2+); therefore, Mg2+ and Ca2+ were used together for bio-cementation in this study at various Mg2+/Ca2+ ratios as the microbially induced magnesium and calcium precipitation (MIMCP) treatment. Slope angles, surface strengths, precipitation contents, major phases, and microscopic characteristics of precipitation were used to evaluate the treatment effects. Results showed that the MIMCP treatment markedly enhanced the erosion resistance of slopes. Decreased Mg2+/Ca2+ ratios resulted in a smaller change in angles and fewer soil losses, especially the Mg2+ concentration below 0.2 M. The decreased Mg2+/Ca2+ ratio achieved increased precipitation contents, which contributed to better erosion resistance and higher surface strengths. Additionally, the production of aragonite would benefit from elevated Mg2+ concentrations and a higher Ca2+ concentration led to more nesquehonite in magnesium precipitation crystals. The slopes with an initial angle of 53° had worse erosion resistance than the slopes with an initial angle of 35°, but the Mg2+/Ca2+ ratios of 0.2:0.8, 0.1:0.9, and 0:1.0 were effective for both slope stabilization and erosion mitigation to a great extent. The results are of great significance for the application of MIMCP to improve erosion resistance of foreshore slopes and the MIMCP technique has promising application potential in marine engineering.
... To support the experimental findings obtained by the UCS test, and support the interpretation of the observed behaviors, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electronic microscope (SEM) examinations are carried out on the virgin and treated soils. Literature states that the precipitated CaCO 3 which causes the bonding of soil matrix are predominant crystals of vaterite and calcite (Carmona et al. 2016;Almajed et al. 2018Almajed et al. , 2019Miao et al. 2020;Ahenkorah et al. 2021). The investigation on the virgin soil samples and treated soil samples of W 1 corresponding to cycles with lowest and highest precipitation (i.e., C1 and C3) are presented in Fig. 16. ...
Enzyme-induced carbonate precipitation (EICP) is a ground improvement technique used in bio-geotechnical engineering, which utilizes environmental-friendly and favorable components such as urea, calcium chloride, and activator enzyme for soil modification. Utilization of such combined treatment techniques is site specific. In this regard, research was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of varied concentrations of EICP cementing solution on locally collected natural soil, with a special emphasis on the protocol of modification. The effect of curing time on strength development of soils stabilized with varying proportions of urea, calcium chloride, and urease enzyme was investigated, subjected to three cycles of treatment process. The protocol followed for soil-less experiments undertaken with varying proportions of cementing solution helped to determine the maximum carbonate (CaCO3) precipitation in the cemented soils. A combination of 0.5 M urea, 1 M CaCl2, and 6 g/L of urease enzyme is proposed as the cementing media to investigate the increase in unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of the treated soils. The ratio of CaCO3 precipitation as a function of the number of treatment cycles is also investigated. The results highlighted that treatment cycles are a responsible parameter for increased precipitation and higher UCS (~ up to 76 kPa and 90.62 kPa) in the natural soils. The qualitative assessment of the precipitates done by FE-SEM micrographs XRD analysis and, revealed heterogeneity in the distribution of Ca in the cemented soil microenvironment.
... The combination of MICP/EICP with harmless synthetic materials produces synergistic effects on soil erosion control. Polymers have been widely used as an environmentfriendly adhesive in MICP/EICP processes to achieve erosion control, including polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) (Wang et al., 2018), sodium alginate (SA) biopolymer (Almajed et al., 2020), synthetic resin such as polyacrylamide (PAM) (Miao et al., 2020), and polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) (Sun et al., 2022;Sun et al., 2021a;Sun et al., 2021c). Polymers can bond and bridge the soil particles, which increases the interparticle interaction of the soil particles to achieve superior erosion resistance (Nouri et al., 2022;Hataf et al., 2018). ...
... Combining SA with EICP improved surface strength and prevented soil mass loss during wind erosion at a high velocity of 58.32 km/h (Almajed et al., 2020). Desert sand treated with PAM-assisted EICP had higher resistance to wind erosion compared to EICP alone (Miao et al., 2020). However, it was found that adding PVAc caused more desirable effects on surface strength than the additive of PAM (Sun et al., 2021c). ...
... In comparison to MICP, EICP utilizes urease enzymes for urea hydrolysis, eliminating the need for bacteria and simplifying the application process (Hamdan, 2015). As a result, several previous studies have implemented EICP as the dust or sandstorm suppression method (Hamdan and Kavazanjian Jr, 2016;Miao et al., 2020;Sun et al., 2021d). ...
... The improved method of using urease to directly decompose urea based on MICP is called enzyme-induced calcite precipitation (EICP) (Martin et al., 2020). Microbial mineralization technology has been widely used in many applications, such as reinforcing sandy soil (Pan et al., 2020;Tiwari et al., 2021), strengthening concrete and stone materials (Gavimath et al., 2012;Achal et al., 2013;Khan et al., 2015;Jiang et al., 2016), suppressing dust Liu et al., 2020;Miao et al., 2020), and controlling pollution (Mitchell and Ferris, 2005;Lai et al., 2020;Zhao et al., 2020;Singh et al., 2021). ...
The utilization of enzyme-induced calcium carbonate precipitation (EICP) to consolidate aeolian sand has received significant attention in recent years. When EICP was used and cementing solution was injected in stages, the calcium carbonate content and uniformity were not improved simultaneously. A method is proposed to alleviate this problem by pre-reacting urea and urease before injecting the cementing solution and speeding up the injection rate. Experiments were designed to compare staged injections of EICP-cemented aeolian sand with and without the use of prehydrolysis and with different injection rates. The results show that 1) at the same injection rate, the content of calcium carbonate in the prehydrolysis samples after 12 injections was 66.1% higher than that in the samples without prehydrolysis. 2) When using prehydrolysis, the calcium carbonate content as a function of the injection rate decreased in the following order: 10 mL/min >15 mL/min >7.5 mL/min. The highest amount of calcium carbonate was generated at an injection rate of 10 mL/min and was mainly distributed on the surface. The calcium carbonate generated with an injection rate of 15 mL/min was uniformly distributed in the sand. These results indicate that the method could improve the efficiency of calcium carbonate generation and distribution uniformity, and could also be applied to form a hard crust on the surface of sandy soil or for reinforcing sandy soil by multiple injections.
... Deserts occupy over 41% of Earth's land area. Around 38% of the global population gets distressed due to this catastrophe [1][2][3]. Sand is naturally transported and deposited by the wind through a process called wind-driven erosion. It is a usual incidence, that typically affects, loose and arid soils with fine grains, as well as sandy soils. ...
... Demarcation of soil storms and restricting land deprivation are global constraints [2]. The conventional practices like sand barriers, barricades, vegetation, chemical stabilization, and engineering tactics expended for wind attrition restrain to preclude desertification are probable to be futile eventually [17]. ...
... The main problems with vegetation are the lack of an appropriate soil temperature and nutrient conditions [18]. Sand barriers and barricades are immobile and cannot be reorganized as per the situation of soil accumulation and the layer created in the domain [2]. The use of chemical stabilizing agents for ground improvement is not well promoted because they cause environmental problems, especially groundwater contamination, due to the release of harmful and synthetic compounds [19]. ...
Wind-driven sand erosion is the leading primary reason of earth deterioration in dry lands and a major global issue. Desert dust emissions and topsoil degradation caused by wind pose a global danger to the ecosystem, economy, and individual health. The aim of the current study is to critically analyze the different types of biopolymers and their interaction mechanism with sands for desert sand stabilization. Extensive experimental data with different percentages of biopolymers has been presented on various wind erosion studies using wind tunnel testing and their control rate on desert sand stabilization. Also, studies related to evaluating the engineering properties of sand using biopolymers were analyzed. Other biological approaches, namely Microbial-induced calcite precipitation (MICP) and Enzyme-induced carbonate precipitation (EICP), have been discussed to regulate wind-driven sand erosion in terms of percentage calcite formation at different compositions of urea and calcium chloride. Comparative analysis of MICP and EICP with biopolymer treatment and their limitations have been discussed. Biopolymers are not only demonstrated adeptness in engineering applications but are also helpful for environment safety. Biopolymers are suggested to be novel and nature-friendly soil-strengthening material. This review focuses on the fundamental mechanisms of biopolymer treatment to reduce wind-driven sand loss and its future scope as a binder for sand stabilization. The mechanism of soil-biopolymer interaction under various soil conditions (water content, density, and grain size distribution) and climatic circumstances (drying-wetting cycles) needs to be explored. Furthermore, before applying on a large scale, one should evaluate sand-biopolymer interaction in terms of durability and viability.
