EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON CONCRETE USING BACILLUS SUBTILIS BACTERIA

Chandaka Jyoshna1, Assistant Professor; M.Madhuri2 , P.Nookaraju3

Dadi Institute of Engineering and Technology College

Abstract- In recent years, researches concerning cement based materials have been focused not only
on the strength and toughness but also on the durability. Concrete is a very brittle materials with low
tolerance for strain, so it is commonly expected to crack with time. This made the interest on
concrete’s self-healing process increasing day by day. In this project a new self-healing technology
for cement based materials is proposed. Self-concrete consists of mix with bacteria that is bacillus
subtilis (non-pathogenic micro organism) incorporated into the concrete and calcium lactate food to
support those bacteria when they become active. The bacteria, feeding on the provided food surface,
heal the damage done and can also reduce the amount of damage sustained by the by the concrete
structure. This process not only increases the durability but also increases the compressive strength.
This paper focused on compressive strength of concrete by using bacteria.
Keywords: Bacillus subtilis, repair of cracks, compressive strength
I. INTRODUCTION
concrete is exposed to external factors such as extreme heat, cold, stresses, during service. Concrete
shrinks and expands with variations in moisture and temperature. Cracks can occur when changes to
accommodate this factors are not implemented in the design and development. Other factors that
can effect concrete and its lifespan include shrinkage, design flaws are poor quality of construction
materials. Due to this factors in addition to several more it is inevitable that reinforced concret e
eventually develop cracks. When cracks originate in concrete structures, a sequence of series events
begins to occur within those structures. Not only do this cracks affect the functionality of the
structure, but they also affect the durability and strength of the structure. In order to increase the
compressive strength of concrete bacteria (Non-Pathogenic, Bacillus Subtilis) is used in this research.
II Objective of the study: To increase the compressive strength of the concrete by using bacillus
bacteria.
In this project, the following materials are used for the preparation of concrete.
1. Ordinary Portland Cement(53 grade)
2. Fine aggregate
3. Coarse aggregate
4. Bacillus subtilis (bacteria)
Table 1: Laboratory tests conducted on cement
S.No Tests conducted for Observed value Standard value
. cement

1 Specific gravity 3.06 3.15

2 Initial setting time 36 minutes 30 minutes

(minutes)

3 Final setting time 10 hours 10 hours Table 2: Laboratory tests

conducted on Fine aggregate
(minutes)

4 Consistency (%) 30 % 26-30%

5 Fineness of Cement 8.5 % < 10 %

S.No Physical properties Observed value Standard value

 1 Specific gravity 2.74 2.6-2.9

2 Fineness modulus 2.874 2.1-3.37

3 Water absorption 2.67 <8%

Table 3: Laboratory tests conducted on Coarse aggregate

S.No. Physical properties Observed value Standard value

1 Specific gravity 2.81 2.6-2.9

2 Water absorption 0.5% Not more than 1%

III Process of Preparation of Concrete:

Production of quality concrete requires meticulous care exercised at every stage of manufacture of
concrete. If meticulous care is not exercised, and good rules are not observed, the resultant concrete
is going to be of bad concrete. Therefore, it is necessary for us to know what are the good rules to be
followed in each stage of manufacture of concrete for producing good quality concrete. The various
stages of manufacture of concrete are:
1. Batching
2. Mixing
3. Placing
4. Compacting
5. Curing
Mix design 1: 2.78 :4.17 :0.45 (0.45 bacteria)

Mixing, Compressive
Compaction and strength of
Curing concrete on CTM

Fig. No. 1: Preparation of concrete cubes Fig. No. 2 : Compressive testing

machine

IV Results of Compressive strength of concrete cubes:

Table 4: compressive strength of conventional concrete cubes(M20 Grade)
S.No. No. of days Ultimate compressive strength(N/mm 2)

1 3 days 20.21

2 7 days 23.54

3 14 days 27.16

4 28 days 30.52

Table 5: compressive strength of Bacterial concrete cubes

 No of days Ultimate compressive strength(N/mm 2)

1 3 days 24.84

2 7 days 27.25

3 14 days 29.82

4 28 days 33.11

V Conclusion:

1. There is an increase of 4.63 N/mm2 of compressive strength of concrete at 3 days age of concrete
comparatively to conventional concrete.
2. It is concluded that there is an increase of 3.71 N/mm 2 of compressive strength of concrete at 7 days
age of bacterial concrete.
3. It is concluded that at 28 days age of concrete there is only 2.59 N/mm2 of compressive strength is
increased in bacterial concrete.
4. By the addition of bacteria (Bacillus subtilis) at 28 days of concrete only 8.48% of compressive strength
is increased comparatively to conventional concrete

References:
 Luciana resticia, anna reggio, giuseppe, andrea ferro, jean marc tulliani (New self healing techniques
for cement based materials)
 . “CONCRETE TECHNOLOGY” Theory and Practice by M.S SHETTY Meera C.M., Dr subha V (strength
and durability assessment of bacteria based self-healing concrete)
 E.Sclangen, H.Jonkers , S. Qian & A Gareia (Recent advantages on self-healing of concrete)
 IS:10262-1982: “Recommended guidelines for concrete mix design”.