Huriye Bilsel

Hydraulic properties of soils derived from marine sediments of Cyprus

Abstract Laboratory soil-water characteristic curves (SWCCs) were obtained for compacted marine soils of different lithologies and genesis taken from three different locations in North Cyprus. van Genuchtens model was used to determine the best fit for the laboratory data of the SWCC, and indirect predictions of hydraulic conductivity and diffusivity functions were obtained using the closed-form solution of van Genucten–Mualems model. Studying the effect of some chemical constituents on the hydraulic properties of soils, the calcium carbonate and total soluble salts were observed to influence the desaturation phase of the SWCC. These chemical constituents increased the desaturation time, decreasing the rate of reduction of the hydraulic conductivity during desaturation. It was also observed that higher the plasticity index greater the change in water-content required to reach zero diffusivity at residual water-content.

Use of Posidonia Oceanica Ash in Stabilization of Expansive Soils

Posidonia oceanica (PO) is the most plentiful seaweed of the Mediterranean Sea, which grows all along the coastal areas, forming widespread meadows. The leaf rejuvenation process of Posidonia oceanica typically occurs in fall when an increase in wave action causes the dead seaweeds to be transported and usually piled up along the coastal areas. This paper investigates the effect of PO ash stabilization on behaviour of an expansive clay. The ash was obtained by combustion of crushed PO pieces in a muffle furnace at 550°C. Atterberg limits, linear shrinkage, particle size distribution, one-dimensional swell, and unconfined compression tests have been carried out on natural soil as well as soil mixtures with 5% and 10% PO ash. There has been no significant improvement in the soil properties with 5% ash inclusion, whereas 10% ash has noticeably reduced the swell amount and increased the compressive strength. It is therefore concluded that there is a potential for the use of PO ash in geotechnical engineering applications.

Strength Characterization of Sand-Bentonite Mixtures and the Effect of Cement Additives

This article studies the strength properties of compacted sand-bentonite landfill barrier material with and without cement addition at different periods of aging. Test results indicated that strength values, both in compression and tension, increased up to threefold in cement added samples, as well as enhancing the ductile behavior. Cubic modulus, described as the slope of the elastic portion of the cubic compressive stress versus strain curves, is determined along with initial and flexural moduli, and all the strength and moduli values were correlated with each other. Finally, it is concluded that there is a marked improvement in strength properties and moduli with cement inclusion and that the effect of aging has been very effective.

Statistical Modeling of Environmental Factors on Microbial Urea Hydrolysis Process for Biocement Production

Calcium carbonate is a widely used raw material by many industries. It can be precipitated through microbial process within soil pores as cementitious bonding agent between grains for geotechnical applications. It is called microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP). Designing an appropriate biogrout material for injection into soil is essential for controlling the amount, type, time, and place of the biocement production within pores. For this purpose, understanding the active reactions and the kinetics of bacterial growth and urea hydrolysis is necessary. A conductometric method and spectrophotometry were used in this study to, respectively, monitor the urea hydrolysis reaction progress and bacterial growth in S. pasteurii-inoculated urea-NB-NH4Cl solution at different level of the environmental factors that are initial cell concentration, urea concentration, and temperature. Variation in conductivity of the solution versus logarithmic scale of time was depicted as microbial ureolysis characteristic curve (MUCC) through which lag duration, specific rate, and potential of urea hydrolysis at each condition were obtained. Central composite face-centered (CCF) design, which is one of the response surface methodologies, was employed to statistically fit polynomial models explaining the bacterial growth and the characteristics obtained from MUCCs in terms of the environmental factors and their interactions. An optimization analysis based on the urea-normalized responses was also carried out.

Estimation on ureolysis-based microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation progress for geotechnical applications

ABSTRACT There are some key challenges in the geotechnical applications of microbially induced CaCO3 precipitation technique. These challenges mainly arise from lack of enough control on precipitation patterns within the soil. Monitoring precipitation progress in treatment solution (biogrout) before injection provides useful information on controlling the precipitation pattern. In this study, a hybrid of electrical conductivity change measurements and precipitation mass measurements was proposed for the monitoring. The results were described as characteristic curves which would provide useful information on interpreting, estimating, and steering the precipitation pattern within the soil. The effects of some influencing factors on the precipitation patterns were also statistically investigated. XRD, FTIR, and SEM were used for the microscale identification analysis of the precipitated solids.