The changes in earth pressure and ground settlement due to underground excavation near an existing retaining wall were studied experimentally according to the separation distance between the underground excavation and the retaining wall. In addition, this study attempted to experimentally prove that the arching phenomenon occurred during the construction of the underground space. A model tank having 120 cm in length, 160 cm in height, and 40 cm in width was manufactured to simulate underground excavation through the use of five separated base wall bodies. The variation of earth pressure on the retaining wall was measured according to the underground excavation phase through the use of 10 separated right wall bodies. The results showed that the earth pressure on the retaining wall was changed by the lowering of the first base bottom wall; however, the earth pressure was not changed significantly by the lowering of the third base bottom wall, since the third base wall had sufficient separation distance from the retaining wall. Lowering of the first base wall induced a decrease in the earth pressure in the lower part of the retaining wall; in contrast, lowering of the first base wall induced an increase in the earth pressure in the middle part of the retaining wall, proving the arching effect experimentally. It is necessary to consider the changes in earth pressure on the retaining wall in designing earth retaining structures for sections where the arching effect occurs.

Coastal erosion is becoming a significant problem in Greece, Bangladesh, and globally. For the prevention and minimization of damage from coastal erosion, combinations of various structures have been used conventionally. However, most of these methods are expensive. Therefore, creating artificial beachrock using local ureolytic bacteria and the MICP (Microbially Induced Carbonate Precipitation) method can be an alternative for coastal erosion protection, as it is a sustainable and eco-friendly biological ground improvement technique. Most research on MICP has been confined to land ureolytic bacteria and limited attention has been paid to coastal ureolytic bacteria for the measurement of urease activity. Subsequently, their various environmental effects have not been investigated. Therefore, for the successful application of MICP to coastal erosion protection, the type of bacteria, bacterial cell concentration, reaction temperature, cell culture duration, carbonate precipitation trend, pH of the media that controls the activity of the urease enzyme, etc., are evaluated. In this study, the effects of temperature, pH, and culture duration, as well as the trend in carbonate precipitation of coastal ureolytic bacteria isolated from two coastal regions in Greece and Bangladesh, were evaluated. The results showed that urease activity of coastal ureolytic bacteria species relies on some environmental parameters that are very important for successful sand solidification. In future, we aim to apply these findings towards the creation of artificial beachrock in combination with a geotextile tube for coastal erosion protection in Mediterranean countries, Bangladesh, and globally, for bio-mediated soil improvement.

Microbially induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) is an innovative soil improvement approach utilizing metabolic activity of microbes to hydrolyze urea. In this paper, the shear response and the erodibility of MICP-treated sand under axial compression and submerged impinging jet were evaluated at a low confining stress range. Loose, poorly graded silica sand was used in testing. Specimens were cemented at low confining stresses until target shear wave velocities were achieved. Results indicated that the erodibility parameters of cemented specimens showed an increase in the critical shear stress by up to three orders of magnitude, while the erodibility coefficient decreased by up to four orders of magnitude. Such a trend was observed to be dependent on the level of cementation. The treated sand showed dilative behavior while the untreated sands showed contractive behavior. The shear modulus as a function of strain level, based on monitored shear wave velocity, indicated mineral debonding may commence at 0.05% axial strain. The peak strength was enhanced in terms of emerging cohesion parameter based on utilizing the Mohr-Coulomb failure criteria.

It is generally known that high strength soil is indicative of well-graded particle size distribution. However, there are some special cases of firm ground despite poor grade distribution, especially a specific gap-graded soil. Based on these discoveries, this study investigated the development of an additive of gap-graded soils designed to increase soil strength. This theoretical concept was used to calculate the mixed ratio required for optimal soil strength of the ground sample. The gap-graded aggregate was added according to Plato's polyhedral theory and subsequently calculated ratio and soil strength characteristics were then compared to characteristics of the original soil sample through various test results. In addition, the underground stress transfer rate was measured according to the test conditions. The test results showed that the ground settlement and stress limit thickness were reduced with the incorporation of gap-graded soil. Further field tests would confirm the reproducibility and reliability of the technology by using gap-graded soil to reinforce soft ground of a new construction site. Gap-graded soil has the potential to reduce the construction cost and time of construction compared to other reinforcing methods.

Gel-type biopolymers have recently been introduced as environmentally friendly soil binders and have shown substantial strengthening effects in laboratory experimental programs. Although the strengthening effects of biopolymer-treated sands have been verified in previous direct shear tests and uniaxial compression tests, there has been no attempt to examine shear behavior under different confining stress conditions. This study therefore aimed to investigate the strengthening effects of biopolymer-treated sand using laboratory triaxial testing with a focus on confining pressures. Three representative confining pressure conditions (${\sigma}_3=50kPa$, 100 kPa, and 200 kPa) were tested with varying biopolymer contents ($m_{bp}/m_s$) of 0.5%, 1.0%, and 2.0%, respectively. Based on previous studies, it was assumed that biopolymer-treated sand is susceptible to hydraulic conditions, and therefore, the experiments were conducted in both a hydrated xanthan gum condition and a dehydrated xanthan gum condition. The results indicated that the shear resistance was substantially enhanced and there was a demonstrable increase in cohesion as well as the friction angle when the biopolymer film matrix was comprehensively developed. Accordingly, it can be concluded that the feasibility of the biopolymer treatment will remain valid under the confining pressure conditions used in this study because the resisting force of the biopolymer-treated soil was higher than that in the untreated condition, regardless of the confining pressure.

Soft marine soil has high fine-grained soil content and in-situ water content. Thus, it has low shear strength and bearing capacity and is susceptible to a large settlement, which leads to difficulties with coastal infrastructure construction. Therefore, strength improvement and settlement control are essential considerations for construction on soft marine soil deposits. Biopolymers show their potential for improving soil stability, which can reduce the environmental drawbacks of conventional soil treatment. This study used two biopolymers, an anionic xanthan gum biopolymer and a cationic ${\varepsilon}-polylysine$ biopolymer, as representatives to enhance the geotechnical engineering properties of soft marine soil. Effects of the biopolymers on marine soil were analyzed through a series of experiments considering the Atterberg limits, shear strength at a constant water content, compressive strength in a dry condition, laboratory consolidation, and sedimentation. Xanthan gum treatment affects the Atterberg limits, shear strength, and compressive strength by interparticle bonding and the formation of a viscous hydrogel. However, xanthan gum delays the consolidation procedure and increases the compressibility of soils. While ${\varepsilon}-polylysine$ treatment does not affect compressive strength, it shows potential for coagulating soil particles in a suspension state. ${\varepsilon}-Polylysine$ forms bridges between soil particles, showing an increase in settling velocity and final sediment density. The results of this study show various potential applications of biopolymers. Xanthan gum biopolymer was identified as a soil strengthening material, while ${\varepsilon}-polylysine$ biopolymer can be applied as a soil-coagulating material.

Biocementation due to the microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP) process is a potential technique that can be used for soil improvement. However, the effect of biocementation may be affected by many factors, including nutrient concentration, bacterial strains, injection strategy, temperature, pH, and soil type. This study investigates mainly the effect of chemical concentration on the formation of calcium carbonate (e.g., quantity, size, and crystalline structure) and unconfined compressive strength (UCS) using different treatment time and chemical concentration in the biotreatment. Two chemical concentrations (0.5 and 1.0 M) and three different treatment times (2, 4, and 8 cycles) were studied. The effect of chemical concentrations on the treatment was also examined by making the total amount of chemicals injected to be the same, but using different times of treatment and chemical concentrations (8 cycles for 0.50 M and 4 cycles for 1.00 M). The UCS and CCC were measured and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis was carried out. The SEM images revealed that the sizes of calcium carbonate crystals increased with an increase in chemical concentrations. The UCS values resulting from the treatments using low concentration were slightly greater than those from the treatments using high concentration, given the CCC to be more or less the same. This trend can be attributed to the size of the precipitated crystals, in which the cementation efficiency increases as the crystal size decreases, for a given CCC. Furthermore, in the high concentration treatment, two mineral types of calcium carbonate were precipitated, namely, calcite and amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC). As the crystal shape and morphology of ACC differ from those of calcite, the bonding provided by ACC can be weaker than that provided by calcite. As a result, the conditions of calcium carbonate were affected by test key factors and eventually, contributed to the UCS values.

Vegetation cover plays a vital role in stabilizing the soil structure, thereby contributing to surface erosion control. Surface vegetation acts as a shelterbelt that controls the flow velocity and reduces the kinetic energy of the water near the soil surface, whereas vegetation roots reinforce the soil via the formation of root-particle interactions that reduce particle detachment. In this study, two vegetation-testing trials were conducted. The first trial was held on cool-season turfgrasses seeded in a biopolymer-treated site soil in an open greenhouse. At the end of the test, the most suitable grass type was suggested for the second vegetation test, which was conducted in an environmental control chamber. In the second test, biopolymers, namely, starch and xanthan gum hydrogels (pure starch, pure xanthan gum, and xanthan gum-starch mixtures), were tested as soil conditioners for improving the water-holding capacity and vegetation growth in sandy soils. The results support the possibility that biopolymer treatments may enhance the survival rate of vegetation under severe drought environments, which could be applicable for soil stabilization in arid and semiarid regions.

Sealing of leakage in waterfront or water-retaining structures is one of the major issues in geotechnical engineering practices. With demands for biological methods as sustainable ground improvement techniques, bioclogging, defined as the reduction in hydraulic conductivity of soils caused by microbial activities, has been considered as an alternative to the chemical grout techniques for its economic advantages and eco-friendliness of microbial by-products. This study investigated the feasibility of bioaugmentation and biostimulation methods to induce fermentation-based bioclogging effect in coarse sands. In the bioaugmentation experiments, effects of various parameters and conditions, including grain size, pH, and biogenic gas generation, on hydraulic conductivity reduction were examined through a series of column experiments while Leuconostoc mesenteroides, which produce an insoluble biopolymer called dextran, was used as the model bacteria. The column test results demonstrate that the accumulation of bacterial biopolymer can readily reduce the hydraulic conductivity by three-to-four orders of magnitudes or by 99.9-99.99% in well-controlled environments. In the biostimulation experiments, two inoculums of indigenous soil bacteria sampled from waterfront embankments were prepared and their bioclogging efficiency was examined. With one inoculum containing species capable of fermentation and biopolymer production, the hydraulic conductivity reduction by two orders of magnitude was achieved, however, no clogging was found with the other inoculum. This implies that presence of indigenous species capable of biopolymer production and their population, if any, play a key role in causing bioclogging, because of competition with other indigenous bacteria. The presented results provide fundamental insights into the bacterial biopolymer formation mechanism, its effect on soil permeability, and potential of engineering bacterial clogging in subsurface.

Biocementation based on the microbially induced calcite precipitation (MICP) process is a novel soil improvement method. Biocement can improve significantly the properties of soils by binding soil particles to increase the shear strength or filling in the pores to reduce the permeability of soil. In this paper, results of triaxial consolidated undrained (CU) tests and constant shear drained (CSD) tests on biocemented Ottawa sand are presented. In the CU tests, the biocemented sand had more dilative behaviour by showing a higher stress-strain curves and faster pore pressure reducing trends as compared with their untreated counterparts. In the CSD tests, the stress ratio q/p' at which biocemented sand became unstable was higher than that for untreated sands, implying that the biocementation will improve the stability of sand to water infiltration or liquefaction.