Healing of Generated Cracks in Cement Mortar Using MICP

This research is carried out to investigate pre-existing repair cracks in cement mortar using the microbiologically induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP) technology. In the study, 20-cylinder mortar samples (45 mm in diameter and 40 mm in length) were split to have cracked width of various sizes. Out of twenty cracked samples, sixteen samples of average crack width ranging from 0.12 to 1.3 mm were repaired using the MICP method, while four cracked samples, with an average crack width ranging from 0.16 to 1.55 mm were soaked under distilled water. The water permeability and split tensile strength (STS) of these repaired mortars were tested. The amount of CaCO3 precipitated on the cracked mortar surfaces was evaluated. The results indicated that the MICP repair technique clearly reduced the water permeability of the cracked samples within the range of 73 to 84 %; while water-treated samples were too weak to undergo test. MICP-repaired samples had STS ranging from 29 to 380 kPa after 24 rounds of treatment. A relationship between the STS and percentage amount of CaCO3 precipitated was observed for samples with an average crack width between 0.29 and 1.1 mm, which indicated that STS increased with percentage increase in CaCO3 precipitated on the crack surfaces.