Title:

Liquefaction Mitigation of Silty Sands via Microbial Induced Partial Saturation

A review of liquefaction case histories shows that sand deposits containing some fines were common in past liquefaction events. While current liquefaction mitigation measures are mostly applicable to clean sands or at open sites, development of non-disruptive techniques applicable for sands containing fines is critical. This paper examines the application and performance of Microbial Induced Partial Saturation (MIPS) for liquefaction mitigation of sand with various silt content. The investigation consisted of a set of undrain strain-controlled cyclic Direct Simple Shear (DSS) tests on untreated and MIPS-treated samples. Experimental results suggest that considerably high excess pore pressure can be developed in untreated clean and silty sand specimens depending on induced shear strain. Regardless of fines content and induced strain, MIPS-treated samples with only 4-5% reduction in degree of saturation did not liquefy. A semi-empirical equation was adopted to predict the excess pore pressure generation in partially saturated conditions. The model is able to reasonably predict the excess pore pressure generated in both clean and silty sands with variable degrees of saturation.

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