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Characterization of microstructural and physical properties changes in biocemented sand using 3D X-ray microtomography

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Abstract

An experimental study has been performed to investigate the effect of the biocalcification process on the microstructural and the physical properties of biocemented Fontainebleau sand samples. The microstructural properties (porosity, volume fraction of calcite, total specific surface area, specific surface area of calcite, etc.) and the physical properties (permeability, effective diffusion) of the biocemented samples were computed for the first time from 3D images with a high-resolution images obtained by X-ray synchrotron microtomography. The evolution of all these properties with respect to the volume fraction of calcite is analysed and compared with success to experimental data, when it is possible. In general, our results point out that all the properties are strongly affected by the biocalcification process. Finally, all these numerical results from 3D images and experimental data were compared to numerical values or analytical estimates computed on idealized microstructures constituted of periodic overlapping and random non-overlapping arrangements of coated spheres. These comparisons show that these simple microstructures are sufficient to capture and to predict the main evolution of both microstructural and physical properties of biocemented sands for the whole range of volume fraction of calcite investigated.

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Acknowledgments

This research is part of the BOREAL project founded under FUI 16 programme and receives financial support from BPI, Métropole de Lyon and CD73. The authors acknowledge the technical support provided by Axelera, Indura, and all the BOREAL project partners for this research, and in particular the CNR company for funding the first author’s PhD thesis. The authors would like to thank D. Depriester for his help concerning the evaluation of the correlation lengths. 3SR lab is part of the LabEx Tec 21 (Investissements d’Avenir–Grant Agreement ANR11 269 LABX0030).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire Sols, Solides, Structures et Risques (3SR), Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, GINP, Grenoble, France

    Abdelali Dadda, Christian Geindreau, Fabrice Emeriault & Sabine Rolland du Roscoat

  2. Compagnie Nationale du Rhône, Lyon, France

    Aurélie Garandet

  3. Soletanche Bachy, Rueil-Malmaison, France

    Leslie Sapin & Annette Esnault Filet

Authors
  1. Abdelali Dadda
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  2. Christian Geindreau
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  3. Fabrice Emeriault
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  4. Sabine Rolland du Roscoat
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  5. Aurélie Garandet
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  6. Leslie Sapin
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  7. Annette Esnault Filet
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Correspondence to Abdelali Dadda.

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Dadda, A., Geindreau, C., Emeriault, F. et al. Characterization of microstructural and physical properties changes in biocemented sand using 3D X-ray microtomography. Acta Geotech. 12, 955–970 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-017-0578-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-017-0578-5

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