Unsaturated and Environmental Poromechanics and Geotechnics Lab (UEPG)

Let us micro-engineer!

The use of micro-organisms in the soil engineering, construction technology, and subsurface engineering and many other disciplines of relevance is a new approach to address old problems of concern. Finding green and eco-friendly solutions for old engineering challenges has led engineers to resort to microorganisms such as bacteria to build bridges between the soil grains, to modify fluid flow and transport, as well as storage characteristics  of porous media, to restore material properties and in one word to seek to replace high CO2 foot print construction materials such as cement with tiny workers which can build in-place and in situ. 

Build clean, build green and build effective in the absence of resources!   From earth to outer space!

There has been even attempts to make bio-bricks with the aid of bacteria which are cable to urease human urine for extraterrestrial settlements or other planets surface stabilization (see the following works in the literature, and online notes this link, this one, and this). But back to the earth surface, the use of this tiny entities in soil improvement,  building repair and  much more seems promising.

Our contributions!

In our lab, we have had four major contributions in this regard, so far, which are 

1. The use of microbial calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP) to improve the soil mechanical characteristics for various soil types, to let the engineers use soils at first glance improper for engineering usage.

2. The use of MICP to improve desert soil mechanical strength to withstand wind and mitigate wind erosion susceptibility of desert soils/aeolian deposits.

3.  Elucidating the  fundamental hydro-mechanical, physical and chemical characteristics of improved soils such as their water retention characteristics, you may see this publication as well as see this presentation.

4. We have tried to always think of the involved bio-geo-chemical reactions to make them even more effective, efficient, and cleaner as much as possible.

Our research addresses the following UN Sustainable Development Goals:

1. Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production 

        and

2.  Goal 13: Climate action

     Through development of green technologies, less CO2 footprint, and  cleaner and eco-friendly solutions. It keeps goings; updates are underway!