“BACTERIAL CONCRETE - A SOLUTION

TO CRACK FORMATION”

Presented By: Archit Singh

(19MT0077)
M.Tech
CONTENTS
 INTRODUCTION
 Also known as self Healing Concrete
 Heal itself when it comes in contact with air and water, it produces
lime on outer layer of the concrete.

 The process of self-healing can be carried out by adding specially

selected types of bacteria which are added during mixing.

 20-30% of the cement is left unhydrated.

 unreacted cement grains may become exposed to moisture

penetrating the crack.

 Hydration process starts again and heal the crack.

 Bacterial Concrete
Bacterial concrete also known as Self-healing concrete can be produced by adding bacteria in
concrete along with its nutrient to keep it alive for production of calcite to fill crack after
precipitation. Bacteria was added in concrete along with calcium lactate to repair cracks.

The focus is not only to keep bacteria alive but also to generate much calcite to fill the cracks.

Googled fig.-Bacterial concrete specimen

 Cont.…
 Invented by a group of micro-biologically researchers under the head of “Henk jonkers”

 Species from Bacillus group appear promising intrinsic agents as their spores, specialized
thick-walled dormant cells, have been shown to be viable for over 200 years under dry
conditions.

 Mainly micro cracks with widths typically in the range of 0.05 to 0.1mm have been
observed to become completely sealed particularly under repetitive dry/wet
cycles 

  Due to capillary forces water is repeatedly drawn into the micro cracks under changing
wet and dry cycles, resulting in expansion of hydrated cement particles due to the
formation of calcium silicate hydrates and calcium hydroxide

 Larger sized cracks can only be partially filled due to the limited amount of non - reacted
cement particles present, thus resulting in only a thin layer of hydration products on the
crack surface.
 WHICH BACTERIA WAS USED
The bacteria from Bacillus family is chosen for self-healing in concrete.
Following are those bacteria:
• Bacillus Pastuerii
• Bacillus Sphearicus
• Bacillus Pseudofirmu
• Bacillus Subtilis
 WHY BACTERIA SUBTILIS

1 2 3 4
able to adjust to It is gram-positive bacteria having an
It produces copious able to withstand high
ability to form spores when subjected
alkaline atmosphere amount of calcium pressure and brilliant to to unfavorable conditions. Spore
in concrete for the carbonate consume much oxygen formation provides its protection
production of and minimize corrosion against high pressure and alkaline
calcium carbonate. of steel environment, making it ideal selection
 Should react when aerobic condition prevails.

Should form spores.

Characteristics of
suitable Should not evolve H22S.
Bacteria’s
Should not evolve CO22

Should form calcite ppt. after reacting with water.

WHAT SPECIAL PRESENT IN BIO CONCRETE?
There are two thing present in bio concrete.

1) The special bacteria that has to resist the alkalinity and the
mechanical stress of concrete.
2) The chemical precursor to activate the bacteria

“calcium lactate” { Ca(C3H5O2)2 }

 Why only Calcium Lactate?

Because calcium lactate actually resulted in a 10% increase in compressive strength
compared to control specimen. 

Yeast extract, peptone and calcium acetate resulted in a dramatic decrease of

compressive strength. 
 HOW BACTERIA IS
ADDED?

By Direct By
Application Encapsulation
 Direct Application
 In the direct application method, bacterial spores and calcium lactate is added
into concrete directly when mixing of concrete is done. The use of this bacteria
and calcium lactate doesn’t change the normal properties of concrete.

 when the crack occurs & water comes in contact, bacterial spores broke and
bacteria comes to life and feed on the calcium lactate and limestone is
produced which fill the cracks.

From: ASCE Journal Paper

 By Encapsulation
 By encapsulation method the bacteria and its food i.e. calcium lactate, are placed
inside treated clay pellets and concrete is prepared. About 6% of the clay pellets
are added for making bacterial concrete.

 When concrete structures are made with bacterial concrete, when the crack occurs
in the structure and clay pellets are broken and the bacteria germinate and eat
down the calcium lactate and produce limestone, which hardens and thus sealing
the crack.

 Minor cracks about 0.5mm width can be treated by using bacterial concrete.

From: ASCE Journal Paper

 Mechanism Of Bacterial Concrete

The cracks are formed on the surface of concrete due to many reasons
like shrinkage, Inadequate water for hydration …etc,

 The water is deliberately forced into the crack and the precursor is
activated
 Ca(C3H5O2)2 + 7O2 → CaCO3 + 5CO2 + 5H2O

CO2 + Ca(OH)2 → CaCO3 + H2 O

(carbonation)

The activated precursor intern induces the bacteria to react

with that precursor and form a base of calcium carbonate
called as limestone, the chemical equation is given above
 MATERIALS USED
• Ordinary Portland Cement(43 grade)
• Crushed aggregate of size 20mm
• Sand
• Water
• Calcium Lactate
• Bacillus Subtilis

Bacteria Subtilis: 8 l/m3 (0.8%)

Quantity
Calcium lactate: 20 kg/m3 (0.8%)
 Mix Design
Sl No. Material Quantity Kg/m3
1 Cement 465
2 Water 186
3 Fine aggregate 642.14
4 Coarse Aggregate 1176.39

Proportion of cement: sand: aggregate = 1:1.5:3

 SAMPLES
Followings were the test conducted
TESTING
• 5 Mixes were Prepared
• Workability
 Mix1 – Normal Concrete
 Mix2 – 20ml/m3 Bacteria • Compressive Strength.
 Mix3 – 30ml/m3 Bacteria
 Mix4 – 40ml/m3 Bacteria • Split Tensile Test.
 Mix5 – 50ml/m3 Bacteria
• Surface Crack Healing.
 Slump Of Cone (mm) 1. Workability
80
The slump assessment is
Slump (mm)

70 68
62 carried out for Normal
59
60 57 56 concrete and for Bacterial
50 concrete by varying the
concentration of Bacterial
40
solution.
30

20

10

0
Mix 1 Mix 2 Mix 3 Mix 4 Mix 5

Type of Mix
 2. Compressive Strength
The compressive strength was measured after 7 and 28 days. Cubes with different
quantities of bacteria were tested after 7 and 28 days. The compressive strength
C o m p re s s iv e S t re n g t h (M P a )
increased by increasing quantity of bacteria

7 V/S 28 Days Compressive Strength

50
44.3 44.7
45
39.7
40
34.6 34.8
35 32.2
29.8 30.2
30
25 21.67 22.8
20
15
10
5
0
Mix 1 Mix 2 Mix 3 Mix 4 Mix 5

Types Of Mix

7 Days(Mpa) 28 Days(Mpa)
 3. Split Tensile Test
Split- tensile strength is indirect way of finding the tensile strength of concrete by
subjecting the cylinder to a compressive force. Split tensile test is carried out for
Normal concrete and bacterial concrete by varying the concentration of bacterial
S p litt in g T e n sile S tr e n g t h ( M P a )
solution

28 Days Splitting Tensile Strength (MPa)

2.6
2.54
2.52
2.5

2.4 2.36

2.3

2.2 2.16 2.17

2.1

1.9
Mix 1 Mix 2 Mix 3 Mix 4 Mix 5

Type Of Mix
4. Surface Crack Healing
 Surface Of Lime

Before Healing After Healing

20x Zoom
Pros
• Improvement in compressive strength of concrete.
• Reduction in permeability of concrete.
• Reduction in corrosion of reinforcement.
• reduced maintenance and repair costs of steel reinforced concrete structures.
• Resistance towards freeze-thaw attacks.

Cons
• Cost of bacterial concrete is double than conventional concrete.
• The clay pellets holding the self-healing agent comprise 20% of the volume of the concrete.
This may become a shear zone or fault zone in the concrete.
• Design of mix concrete with bacteria here is not available any IS code or other code
 Conclusion
 This experimental study showed that the addition of bacteria Bacillus Subtilis in
concrete shows improvements in various properties of concrete in terms of compressive
strength, split tensile strength.

 This experimental study showed that the addition of bacteria Bacillus Subtilisin
concrete as 0, 20, 30, & 40 ml/ m3.Out of which 40 ml/m3is the optimum dosage

 Hence it could be concluded that this particular concentration give optimum results
which is proven by 40% increase in compressive strength and increase in split tensile
strength when compared to conventional concrete.

 Bacterial concrete exhibited lower rate of water absorption than conventional concrete.

 Bacteria can live in concrete for over 100 years.

 To conclude, application of bacteria as a self-healing agent in concrete appears promising

& will soon provide the basis for high quality structures tha will be cost effective &
environmentally safe….
 References
1. ‘Performance of standard grade bacteria (Bacillus subtillis) Concrete’-Asian journal of civil
engineering 4355.
2. ‘Study of the effect of bacteria on cement composites’:- Kashyap, Vijeth N and
Radhakrishnan Bangalore: International journal of research in Engineering & Technology,
Nov 2013.
3. ‘Bacterial based self-healing concrete’- Jonkers, Henk M and Mors, Renee M. Netherland:
Delft University.
4. ‘Bio-engineered concrete-A sustainable self-healing construction material’-Rao, Seshagiri M
and Reddy, Shrinivasa V, Hyderabad: Research journal of engineering science, 2013.
5. ‘Bioremediation of concrete’- Parnnika, HimthaniHarshal, Das Amruta, Thailand:
International Conference on Emerging Trends in engineering and technology, Dec-2013.
6. ‘Microbial concrete- A way to enhance durability of building structures’- Achalvarenyam,
Mukherjee Abhijit, Reddy, Sudhakara M, Patiala : Thapar University.
7. ‘Overview of factors affecting M.I.C.P and its potential applications in soil improvements’-
Wei-Soon Ng, Lee Minn –Lee, HieSiew-Ling: Malaysia: World academy of science,
engineering and technology 62,2012.
8. ‘Self-Healing of Cracked concrete’- A bacterial approach’- Jonkers, H.M, Schlagen E.
Netherland:Delft University. ‘Concrete Technology’- M.S Shetty
Thank You
For Listening……