Microbial-inspired self-healing of concrete cracks by sodium silicate-coated recycled concrete aggregates served as bacterial carrier

Microbially induced carbonate precipitation(MICP)is a promising technique for the autonomous healing of concrete cracks.In this study,the effect of pH on MICP was investigated.The results indicate that the MICP process was inhibited when the pH was higher than 11.Both vaterite and calcite were produced when the pH was<8,whereas only calcite was produced when the pH was>8.Recycled concrete aggregates(RCA)coated with sodium silicate have been proposed as protective carriers for microbial healing agents.Although the presence of the coated RCA resulted in a loss of the splitting tension strength of the concrete,the loaded healing agents were highly efficient in self-healing cracks.Concrete incorporated with 20%RCA loaded with healing agents exhibited the best self-healing performance.When the initial crack widths were between 0.3 and 0.4 mm,the 7-d mean healing rate was approximately 90%.At 28 d,the crack area filling ratio was 86.4%,while its water tightness recovery ratio was 74.4%and 29.8%,respectively,for rapid and slow absorption.This study suggests that RCA coated with sodium silicate is an effective method for packaging microbial healing agents and has great potential for developing cost-effective self-healing concrete.

Distribution of Calcium Carbonate in the Process of Concrete Self-healing

The complete deposition distribution process of calcium carbonate is summarized in three directions of cracks. Distribution of calcium carbonate in the self-healing process of microbial concrete is studied in detail, with the help of a variety of analytical techniques. The results show that carbonate deposits along the x-axis direction of the cracks. The farther from the crack surfaces of concrete matrix in x-axis direction, the more the content of the substrate, the less content of calcium carbonate. Gradual accumulation of calcium carbonate along the y-axis direction is like building a house with bricks. Different repair points are gradually connected, and ultimately the whole of cracks are completely filled. In the z-axis direction, calcium deposits on the surface of fracture direction, when the crack is filled on the surface, because the internal crack hypoxia in the depths of cracks hardly produces calcium carbonate.

The Prediction of Self-Healing Capacity of Bacteria-Based Concrete Using Machine Learning Approaches

Advances in machine learning(ML)methods are important in industrial engineering and attract great attention in recent years.However,a comprehensive comparative study of the most advanced ML algorithms is lacking.Six integrated ML approaches for the crack repairing capacity of the bacteria-based self-healing concrete are proposed and compared.Six ML algorithms,including the Support Vector Regression(SVR),Decision Tree Regression(DTR),Gradient Boosting Regression(GBR),Artificial Neural Network(ANN),Bayesian Ridge Regression(BRR)and Kernel Ridge Regression(KRR),are adopted for the relationship modeling to predict crack closure percentage(CCP).Particle Swarm Optimization(PSO)is used for the hyper-parameters tuning.The importance of parameters is analyzed.It is demonstrated that integrated ML approaches have great potential to predict the CCP,and PSO is efficient in the hyperparameter tuning.This research provides useful information for the design of the bacteria-based self-healing concrete and can contribute to the design in the rest of industrial engineering.

Self-healing of Cracks in Concrete with Various Crystalline Mineral Additives in Underground Environment

Cracks can deteriorate mechanical properties and/or durability of concrete. A few studies have shown that, cracks can autogenously heal under a certain conditions besides the traditional passive repair with a deliberate external intervention. For underground concrete structures, the presence of water, as a necessity for chemical reactions of the healing additives, is beneficial to healing concrete. In this paper, a natural healing method by mineral additives was developed according to the chemical and physical characteristics of underground environment. The healing capacity of three different crystalline mineral materials classified namely, carbonate, calcium sulphoaluminate expansive agent and natural metakaolin due to permeation- crystallization, expansion and pozzolanic reaction, has been assessed from the mechanical properties, referring to the relative elastic modulus, the strength restoration, and the water permeability of the healed specimens. In addition, the morphology of the healing products in the vicinity of the crack was observed. The results indicate that the specimens incorporated with the three mineral additives show different healing capacity according to the improved mechanical properties and permeability. The permeability of the host matrix decreased a lot after crack healing by natural metakaolin followed by carbonate whereas no noticeable improvement of water permeability has been observed for the specimens mixed with expansive agent. The specimens incorporated with carbonate show the best mechanical restoration in terms of relative elastic modulus and compressive strength. Although the dominate element is CaCO3 by reaction of CO32-, either from the dissolved CO2 or from the additives, and Ca2＋ in the cementitious system to fill the cracks, the healing capacity depends greatly on the morphology and the properties of the newly formed products.

Changes of Porosity and Roughness of Concrete Surfaces Due to Microbial Corrosion

The issue of the building materials biocorrosion has a significant economic dimension because it results in the costly repair. The start and the course of corrosion are conditioned by many factors which undoubtedly include biological effects like the influence of vegetation and microorganisms causing the so called microbial corrosion. Microorganisms have also a considerable share in the decay and degradation of different building materials. The activity of sulphuratum is the keystone of many processes in nature and in industry. The sulphuric bacteria oxidize hydrogen sulphide produced by sulphate-reducing bacteria into sulphuric acid resulting in the acid or sulphate corrosion of cement stone. The paper is aimed on evaluation of porosity and roughness of concrete samples surface as elementary characteristics of microbial corrosion. After 4 months exposure to the real conditions in sewers deposition the changes were observed by confocal laser microscopy and consequently analyzed and interpreted.

Effects of hydrogel-encapsulated bacteria on the healing efficiency and compressive strength of concrete

Microbial-induced calcium carbonate precipitation is a promising technology for self-healing concrete due to its capability to seal microcracks.The main goal of this study was to evaluate the effects of adding hydrogelencapsulated bacteria on the compressive strength and the self-healing efficiency of concrete.To achieve this objective,12 sets of mortar samples were prepared,including three different mineral precursors(magnesium acetate,calcium lactate,and sodium lactate),at two concentrations(67.76 and 75.00 mM/L),and under two different biological conditions(with and without bacteria).In addition,a set of plain mortar samples was prepared to serve as a control.For each sample set,three mortar cubes and three beams were prepared and subjected to compression and flexural strength tests.From the compression tests,it was found that the sample containing calcium lactate along with yeast extract and bacteria displayed the best results.As for the flexural tests,once cracked,the beams were subjected to 28 d of wet/dry cycles(16 h of water immersion and 8 h of drying),where the bottom crack width was monitored(at 0,3,7,14,28 d of wet/dry cycles).Once the sample with the highest healing efficiency was identified(the one containing calcium lactate and hydrogel-encapsulated bacteria),the study was scaled up to concrete specimens.Two sets of concrete cylinders(consisting of three control samples and three samples with bacteria along with calcium lactate)were tested under compression in order to evaluate the effect of the bacteria-precursor combination on the concrete mechanical properties.The samples that yielded the greatest compressive strength were the ones containing calcium lactate and bacteria,displaying an improvement of 17%as compared to the control specimen.Furthermore,a flexural strength recovery analysis was performed on the concrete specimens revealing that the control showed better flexural strength recovery than the bacteriacontaining variant(41.5%vs.26.1%)after 28 d of wet/dry cycles.A healing efficiency analysis was also performed on the cracked samples,revealing that the control displayed the best results.These results are due to the fact that the control specimen showed a narrower crack width in comparison to the bacteria-containing samples.

A state-of-the-art review of the development of self-healing concrete for resilient infrastructure

The brittleness of cement composites makes cracks almost inevitable,producing a serious limitation on the lifespan,resilience,and safety of concrete infrastructure.To address this brittleness,self-healing concrete has been developed for regaining its mechanical and durability properties after becoming cracked,thereby promising sustainable development of concrete infrastructure.This paper provides a comprehensive review of the latest developments in self-healing concrete.It begins by summarizing the methods used to evaluate the self-healing efficiency of concrete.Next,it compares strategies for achieving healing concrete.It then discusses the typical approaches for developing self-healing concrete.Finally,critical insights are proposed to guide future studies on the development of novel self-healing concrete.This review will be useful for researchers and practitioners interested in the field of self-healing concrete and its potential to improve the durability,resilience,and safety of concrete infrastructure.

Multifunctional, Sustainable, and Biological Non-Ureolytic Self-Healing Systems for Cement-Based Materials

Microbially induced calcium carbonate(CaCO_(3))precipitation(MICP)has been investigated as a sustain-able alternative to conventional concrete remediation methods for improving the mechanical properties and durability of concrete structures.To date,urea-dependent MICP is the most widely employed MICP pathway in biological self-healing concrete research as its use has resulted in efficient CaCO_(3) precipita-tion rates.NH_(3) is a byproduct of ureolysis,and can be hazardous to cementitious structures and the health of various species.Accordingly,non-ureolytic bacterial concrete self-healing systems have been developed as eco-friendly alternatives to urea-dependent self-healing systems.Non-ureolytic pathways can improve the physical properties of concrete samples and incorporate the use of waste materials;they have the potential to be cost-effective and sustainable.Moreover,they can be applied in terrestrial and marine environments.To date,research on non-ureolytic concrete self-healing systems has been scarce compared to that on ureolytic systems.This article discusses the advances and challenges in non-ureolytic bacterial concrete self-healing studies and highlights the directions for future research.

Analysis of inhibition of concrete steel-rebar corrosion by Na_2Cr_2O_7 concentrations:Implications for conflicting reports on inhibitor effectiveness

Corrosion test data were measured using non-destructive electrochemical techniques and analysed for studying inhibition effectiveness by different concentrations of NazCr207 on the corrosion of concrete steel-rehar in NaC1 and in H2SO4 media. For these, specifications of ASTM G16-95 R04 were combined with the normal and the Gumbel probability density functions as model analytical methods for addressing issues of conflicting reports of inhibitor effectiveness that had generated concerns. Results show that reinforced concrete samples admixed with concentrations having 4 g （0.012 7 tool）, 8 g （0.025 4 mol） and 6 g （0.019 l tool） NaaCr207 exhibited, in that order, high inhibition effectiveness, with respective efficiency, r/, of （90.46±1.30）%, （88.41＋2.24）% and （84.87±4.74）%, in the NaC1 medium. These exhibit good agreements within replicates and statistical methods for the samples. Also, optimal inhibition effectiveness model in the H2SO4 medium was exhibited by 8 g （0.025 4 mol） Na2Cr207 concentration having r/=（78.44±1.10）%. These bear implications for addressing conflicting test data in the study of effective inhibitors for mitigating steel-rebar corrosion in aggressive environments.

Effi ciency of Concrete Crack-healing based on Biological Carbonate Precipitation

The aim of this study was to improve the capacity for crack-repair in concrete by developing a new way. The self-healing agent based on biological carbonate precipitation was developed. Crack-healing capacity of the cement paste specimens with this biochemical agent was researched. Scanning electron microscopy（SEM） and X-ray diffraction（XRD） were used to characterize the precipitation in cracks.The healing efficiency was evaluated by measuring the water permeability after crack healing as well.The experimental results show that the applied biochemical agent can successfully improve the self-healing capacity of the cement paste specimens as larger cracks can be healed. The cracks with a width of 0.48 mm in the specimens with the biochemical agent are nearly fully healed by the precipitation after 80 d repair. SEM and XRD analysis results demonstrate that the white precipitation in cracks is calcium carbonate, which displays spherical crystal morphology. Meanwhile, the water permeability test result shows that the biochemical agent can significantly decrease the water permeability of the cement paste specimens, the water permeability of specimens with the biochemical agent respectively decreases by 84% and 96% after 7 d and 28 d immersion in water, however the control specimens only respectively decrease by 41% and 60%, which indicates that the bacteria-based concrete appears to be a promising approach to increase concrete durability.

Microcapsule-enabled self-healing concrete:A bibliometric analysis

With the development of self-healing technology, the overall properties of the microcapsule-enabled selfhealingconcrete have taken a giant leap. In this research, a detailed assessment of current research on the microcapsuleenabledself-healing concrete is conducted, together with bibliometric analysis. In the bibliometric analysis, variousindicators are considered. The current state of progress regarding self-healing concrete is assessed, and an analysis of thetemporal distribution of documents, organizations and countries of literature is conducted. Later, a discussion of thecitations is analyzed. The research summarizes the improvements of microcapsule-enabled self-healing cementitiouscomposites and provides a concise background overview.

Microbial self-healing of cracks in cement-based materials and its influencing factors

Cement-based materials are brittle and crack easily under natural conditions.Cracks can reduce service life because the transport of harmful substances can cause corrosion damage to the structures.This review discusses the feasibility of using microbial self-healing agents for crack healing.Tubular and spherical carriers can be used to load microbial self-healing agents and protect microbes,which prolongs the self-healing time.The area self-healing ratio,permeability,mechanical strength,precipitation depth method,numerical modeling,and ultrasonic method can be employed to identify the self-healing effect of cracks.Moreover,the self-healing mechanism is systematically analyzed.The results showed that microbial self-healing agents can repair cracks in cement-based materials in underground projects and dam gates.The difficulties and future development of self-healing cracks were analyzed.A microbial selfhealing agent was embedded in the cement-based material,which automatically repaired the developing cracks.With the development of intelligent building materials,self-healing cracks have become the focus of attention.

水工混凝土矿化微生物固载及自修复试验研究

直接内掺方式制备微生物自修复混凝土会因拌合的机械挤压摩擦、生存环境受限等因素影响矿化微生物的长期活性。本文选择巴氏芽孢杆菌为矿化微生物,以膨胀珍珠岩和陶粒为微生物载体,以水泥浆和偏高岭土浆液为载体包覆材料,通过试验优选有助于微生物释放和保护的载体及其合理粒径、包覆材料,并研究微生物固载对裂缝自修复效果的影响。结果表明:掺入定量的膨胀珍珠岩的水工混凝土试样劈裂裂缝处拉裂面积比更大,作为水工混凝土微生物固载材料时较陶粒更能有效释放矿化微生物;偏高岭土浆液较水泥浆更适合作为载体的包覆材料,其包覆的微生物14 d存活率为86.63%,有效保证了固载微生物的长期活性;对微生物进行膨胀珍珠岩固载和偏高岭土浆液包覆,修复养护90d裂缝最大修复宽度为0.616mm,高于直接内掺的0.453mm,有效改善了混凝土试件的裂缝自修复效果。

增强再生骨料固载混菌对混凝土裂缝自修复性能的影响试验研究

微生物诱导碳酸钙沉淀可实现混凝土裂缝的自修复,微生物载体可以有效提高混凝土基体内部微生物存活率,从而改善混凝土的自修复效果,然而目前的载体存在力学性能差、与水泥基材料兼容性差以及费用高等问题。提出一种基于增强再生骨料固载混菌的裂缝自修复混凝土,通过再生骨料增强时间对混凝土抗压强度和自修复性能的影响研究,确定再生骨料合理矿化增强时间,并揭示再生骨料矿化增强和混凝土裂缝自修复机理。结果表明:再生骨料合理增强时间为7 d,矿化增强后再生骨料的吸水率和压碎指标降低幅度分别为20.5%和9.5%;混凝土抗压强度提高幅度为8.6%;经56 d的修复养护后,基于增强再生骨料固载微生物的混凝土裂缝平均修复宽度和完全闭合率分别达到了0.44 mm和73%;再生骨料表面沉淀物呈规则方块状、晶体类型为方解石,裂缝部位沉淀物呈规则的方块状和针簇状,晶体类型为方解石和文石。

低温环境微生物灌入法修复砂浆效果及性能研究

为解决低温环境下常用微生物生长活性降低而导致对混凝土的修复能力减弱的问题,本文采用灌入法研究了嗜温和耐寒细菌及两者组合在室温和低温下对砂浆裂缝的修复效果,并通过对比修复前后砂浆试件的抗折和抗压强度,对不同细菌和矿化液组合的修复效果进行了定量评价。结果表明,细菌对砂浆裂缝的修复效果与其在不同温度下的生长活性相关,与嗜温的巴氏芽孢杆菌fwzy14相比,耐寒短杆菌A779在常温和低温下均具有较强的生长活性,因此在试验温度下表现出更强的修复能力。当以硝酸钙作为钙源时,A779可以通过有氧呼吸和硝酸盐还原两种方式代谢,可以在裂缝深处缺氧区域生长代谢,从而对裂缝进行深度修复。

微生物自修复混凝土的制备及性能研究

通过嗜碱芽孢杆菌胶与匹配的胶结液制备微生物修复剂,并自主研发疏水剂,通过向混凝土中加入疏水剂,改变了混凝土颗粒结构、降低土微粒界面活性,使之可以更好地配合微生物胶结对混凝土的固化,固化后的混凝土韧性大大提升,避免混凝土发生破坏后强度瞬间丧失的情况发生。并通过大蒜素水溶液,在后期加强微生物对混凝土的加工作用,实现混凝土的“自愈合”效果。

自愈合防水混凝土的应用研究

自愈合防水混凝土包括水化反应型、微胶囊机制、微纤维机制和微生物等类型,文章重点介绍了微生物自愈合防水混凝土的作用原理,并通过试验测试了含有巴氏芽孢杆菌的微生物自愈合防水混凝土对裂缝的修复效果。结果表明,含有巴氏芽孢杆菌的微生物自愈合防水混凝土可通过细菌诱导生成碳酸钙沉淀封堵裂缝,在裂缝自愈合性能方面远超普通混凝土。

Living concrete with self-healing function on cracks attributed to inclusion of microorganisms: Theory, technology and engineering applications——A review

Concrete is the most widely used composite material in civil engineering.Microbial induced calcium carbonate precipitation(MICP)is a green and environmental friendly technology,which has received extensive attention in repair of concrete cracks.This paper introduces the research progress in Southeast University research in past 16 years.In the early stage,MICP technology of urea hydrolyzed by Bacillus pasteurii was mainly investigated to repair the surface cracks and to fill large-size cracks with grouting.However,aiming at the hidden cracks that were difficult for human intervention,a new mineralization route of Bacillus mucilaginosus was proposed,which could repair faster than Bacillus alcalophilus,and the problem of ammonia emission in the repair process of Bacillus pasteurii was also solved.In addition,in order to improve the protection of bacteria and the self-healing efficiency of the later age cracks,the methods of fiber immobilization,carrier uniformly immobilization and core-shell structural immobilization had been compared and studied.The results showed that core-shell structural immobilization had good protection ability and strong designability.What’s more,the paper also summarized the characteristics of spore germination,cell activity,nucleation and biological calcium carbonate in crack zone,and introduced the application experience of microbial self-healing concrete in water conservancy projects and subway stations.

Microbial calcite,a bio-based smart nanomaterial in concrete remediation

The concept of developing a biosealant in concrete remediation is based on unique microbial metabolic processes.A common soil microorganism,Sporosarcina pasteurii,can induce CaCO_(3) precipitation in the surroundings in response to environmental cues such as high pH and available nutrients and minerals.A new biomolecule,microbial calcite is introduced as a smart nanomaterial for self-healing concrete-its effects on concrete performance were evaluated with regard to surface crack remediation and durability enhancement.For crack remediation,S.pasteurii cells immobilized on porous glass beads,Siran^(TM),were applied to cracks and tested for stiffness and compressive strengths.For durability tests,cement mortar beams prepared with bacteria were subjected to freeze-thaw cycles and examined for mean expansions and weight changes.Overall performance of the concrete was significantly enhanced by treatment with microbial calcite in simulated concrete cracks and cement mortar beams.

The effects of mismatch fracture properties in encapsulation-based self-healing concrete using cohesive-zone model

Finite element analysis is developed to simulate the breakage of capsule in capsule-based self-healing concrete.A 2D circular capsule with different core-shell thickness ratios embedded in the mortar matrix is analyzed numerically along with their interfacial transition zone.Zero-thickness cohesive elements are pre-inserted into solid elements to represent potential cracks.This study focuses on the effects of mismatch fracture properties,namely fracture strength and energy,between capsule and mortar matrix into the breakage likelihood of the capsule.The extensive simulations of 2D specimens under uniaxial tension were carried out to investigate the key features on the fracture patterns of the capsule and produce the fracture maps as the results.The developed fracture maps of capsules present a simple but valuable tool to assist the experimentalists in designing appropriate capsule materials for self-healing concrete.