Environmental sustainability in construction: Influence of Megaterium Bacteria on the durability and mechanical properties of concrete incorporating calcined clay
Ashish Shukla, Nakul Gupta, Nanna Sri Ramya, Kuldeep K. Saxena, Amjad Iqbal, Faramarz Djavanroodi
Abstract
The current research focuses on the usage of microbial concrete, which has a considerable impact on its mechanical characteristics. Microbial concrete is not only important, but it also employs environmentally acceptable approaches. The “Megaterium bacteria” of the Bacillus genus are put into concrete to heal fractures by fixing microscopic cracks in the transition zone and to improve the mechanical qualities of the concrete. Bacterial concentrations are altered and combined with the conventional concrete to see how the mechanical characteristics change, and the findings demonstrate that the bacterial concrete has a significant increase in strength. The bacteria produced the best results when combined with cementitious materials at a concentration of 107 cfu/ml, according to the findings. In addition to the aforementioned approach, calcined clay was used to partially substitute cement. Experiments were conducted with the replacement of calcined clay (0%, 10%, 15% & 20%) by mass of Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) in the concrete mix with different concentrations of bacteria. The current study discovered that cement replacement with 10% calcined clay when mixed with bacteria dosage of 107 has the potential to increase the strength attributes of traditional concrete. It also decreases the porosity of the concrete which additionally results in durable concrete.