SELF HEALING CONCRETE: IS IT POSSIBLE IN NEPAL??

Dr.Parajuli Sami; Parajuli Shreya; Hetauda: Concrete is the mixer of cement, water, sand
and other aggregates in proper ratio. It has a high tensile strength and is most important construc-
tion material for infrastructure. In normal concrete, cement can only heal cracks less than 0.2mm
width by itself due to its autonomous property (Arnold, 2011). So, self-healing concrete can be very
profitable in the field of civil engineering. It was invented by a group of microbiology researchers
under the head of Henk Jonkers (Jonkers, 2011). Self-healing concrete itself produce the lime that
can heal the crack in the concrete, when comes in contact with air, moisture.
The concrete can withstand the compressive force but cannot withstand the tensile force and cause
the cracks, is the reason for using the reinforcement in the concrete, to withstand the tensile force.
The cracks can be caused by various primary and secondary causes that can lead to structural dam-
age and serious problem.
Nepal is a developing country and the use of concrete increases everyday due to rapid increase in the
construction.Concrete is one of the major used materials in constuction industry from foundation of
a building to the roofs, parking lot, bridge structures and somewhat even in roads in Nepal.While
concrete has its own advantages but when a concrete experiences tension it starts to crack.
The concrete can withstand the compressive force but cannot withstand the tensile force and cause
the cracks, is the reason for using the reinforcement in the concrete, to withstand the tensile force.
The cracks can be caused by various primary and secondary causes that can lead to structural dam-
age and serious problem.
The cracks developed in concrete enables the water to seep through it, chance of freezing during
winter increases causing the cracks in the concrete to increase. When the cracks are deep enough,
they tend to reach towards steel reinforcement causing the steel reinforcement to corrode and causes
serious damage. Due to the cracking in the concrete, the repair works needs to be done in concrete.
Repairing of the concrete can be very expensive and time consuming, not profitable. It will be
challenging if the concrete crack appears underground and at great height. And this will definitely
compromise the durability of the concrete. The cracks should be healed as soon as possible else it
will become an easy way for the transportation of water and air and result in destruction of con-
crete.Repair of concrete structures usually is done by applying a concrete mortar which is bonded to
the damaged surface. For solving this problem which arises in concrete we can use Mineral-producing
bacteria which could help mend micro-cracking in concrete.

WHY SELF-HEALING CONCRETE??

Self Healing concrete is the bacteria based concrete help in healing the cracks in the concrete by
itself, increasing the service life. it was invented by a group of microbiology researchers under the
head of Henk M Jonkers.Self-healing Concrete is also called Bio concrete or Bacterial Concrete. It’s
specially made to increase the lifespan or the durability of concrete structure by the self-healing
action of that concrete. A Bacterial genus named Bacillus is mixed with the healing agent. The
bacteria is capable of surviving in extremly alkaline enviornment and can dornamant up to 200 years.
The bacteria are enclosed in peatles and start working when they are in contact to water and oxygen
which occurs when the concrete cracks or deconstruct.
Several types of bacteria used for self-healing concrete are :
• Bacillus pasteurizing

• Bacillus sphaericus
• Escherichia coli
• Bacillus subtilis

• Bacillus cohnii
• Bacillus balodurans
• Bacillus pseudofirmus
The bacteria from the bacillus species are mostly utilized for as self-healing agent in construction.
It boosts the compressive strength as well as reduce the permeability of the concrete. It prevents
the corrosion of reinforced concrete by deoxidizing the oxygen coming from air due to crack. The

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bacteria are added directly while making the concrete so its cutback the maintenance and repairing.
Some of the applications of self-healing concrete are:

1. High strength building with more bearing capacity,

2. Long lasting concrete life,

3. More durable roads,

4. Can be used in tunnel-lining structural basement walls, highways, bridges, concrete floors.

SELF-HEALING CONCRETE MECHANISM

When a structure is damaged due to several factors, it results in formation of cracks which appear on
its surface. Damaged concrete allows water to seep in through its cracks, the encapsulated bacteria
– previously added to the mixture- now starts to germinate from the capsule on receiving enough
nourishment from water and nutrients (calcium lactate added to the mixture). The activated bacte-
ria then start to feed on the calcium lactate present in the concrete which utilizes the oxygen present
in the calcium lactate and converting soluble lactate into insoluble limestone. Thus, on solidification
of the insoluble limestone, it seals up the damaged surface of the structure.

Figure 1: Bacteria spores multiplication in concrete

Chemical process
The unhydrated calcium present in the concrete when contracts water, the bacteria acts as a catalyst

Figure 2: Chemicalreaction of self healing concrete due to bacteria

to convert unhydrated calcium into calcium hydroxide (Ca (OH)2), which in turn reacts with the
atmospheric carbon dioxide to produce lime stone and water. This occurs as a chain reaction due to
the presence of water as a byproduct of reaction.

Preparation of bacteria concrete Two methods can be employed for the mixture prepa-
ration:
1. Direct Application method
In this method, the bacteria and its nutrient - calcium lactate - are directly added to the
concrete mixture and hence, do not change the properties of the concrete mixture.
2. Encapsulation of Bacteria
In the encapsulation method, the bacteria and calcium lactate are placed inside clay pellets.
The capsule method follows the same principle as with the aforementioned encapsulation in
expanded clay. [4] The healing agent (Bacteria) is contained by the capsule membrane and will

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 only be released when a crack has penetrated the capsule wall (Lucas, Moxham, Tziviloglou, &
Jonkers, 2018). When clay pellets are broken by cracks the method of self-healing commence
with the presence of water.
The capsules are an additive rather than a replacement for any of the major constituents. This
therefore allows the initial compressive strength of the concrete, pre-crack, to remain high as
the gravel aggregate will still be included. The encapsulation of bacteria within the capsule
is not an easy process. Specialized laboratory equipment is required, which in turn brings its
own additional costs(Lucas et al., 2018). Minor cracks (0.5mm) width can be treated by using
bacterial concrete.

Self-healing tests
Different authors have explored diverse methods and no standard process has been made available
so far (Lucas et al., 2018). Self-healing in the work by S.S. Lucas was determined following the
equation:

where Fc is the compression strength for the control sample and Fh is the compression strength for
the healed sample.

WHY SELF HEALING CONCRETE IS IMPROTANT INCASE OF NEPAL?

Nepal on a regular interval witnesses earthquake along the major active faults in east-west align-
ment. Historical data and ongoing seismological studies have clearly indicated that the entire region
of Nepal is prone to earthquake and it lies in the active seismic zone V.Certainly, earthquakes cause
cracks in the concrete structures. In context of Nepal, Bio-Concrete or Self Healing concrete can
be a good solution for the cracks in concrete to decrease the re-constructional works and even the
time. Self healing concrete not only reduces the reconstructional work but also the life span of the
structures appoximately 4 times. The life span of the conventional concrete is 60-80 years while the
life span of self healing concrete is more than 200 years.The initial cost of self healing concreteis
high (about double that of conventional concrete (Rs. 20000 per cubic meter)) but if the life of the
structure can be extended by 30%, the doubling in the cost of the actual concrete would still save a
lot of money in the longer term.

LIMITATIONS OF SELF-HEALING CONCRETE

1. Initially the cost of self-healing concrete is more than the traditional concrete.
2. Design of bacteria mix concrete is not available in our country.

References
Arnold, D. (2011). Self-healing concrete. Emerging Technology, 39–43.
Jonkers, H. M. (2011). Bacteria-based self-healing concrete. Heron, 56 (1/2).
Lucas, S. S., Moxham, C., Tziviloglou, E., & Jonkers, H. (2018). Study of self-healing properties in
concrete with bacteria encapsulated in expanded clay. Science and Technology of Materials,
30 , 93–98.