Open AccessExperimental study of the effect of bacillus megaterium bacteria on cement concrete
Author(s) -
Arun Kumar Parashar,
Ankur Gupta
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
iop conference series. materials science and engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1757-899X
pISSN - 1757-8981
DOI - 10.1088/1757-899x/1116/1/012168
Subject(s) - bacillus megaterium , cement , shrinkage , compressive strength , bacteria , absorption of water , ultimate tensile strength , flexural strength , curing (chemistry) , bacillus (shape) , composite material , materials science , food science , chemistry , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , genetics
The presence of voids in cement concrete may lead to a reduction in its performance when exposed to high shrinkage and settlement. This study focused on utilization of bacteria for improving the performance by reducing the voids in the concrete. Bacillus family bacteria were found to be the great healers for the concrete. Bacillus megaterium bacteria of bacillus family with a concentration of 10 8 CFU have been utilized in the current study. A total of 48 specimens were cast and tested for their mechanical strength and water absorption after 7 and 28 days of curing. The test results indicate that the compressive, split tensile and flexural strengths increased to 12.91%, 10.28% and 9.02% respectively after 28 days of curing as compared to standard M30 grade concrete mix. The water absorption value of bacterial concrete was also found to be less as compared to the standard concrete mix. This is because of the filling of the cracks in concrete due to calcite precipitation produced by the Bacillus megaterium bacteria. Therefore, the Bacillus megaterium bacteria of bacillus family can be effectively utilized to improve the mechanical strength by reducing the voids.