Abstract
Bio-cementation, or microbially induced calcite precipitation (MICP),
has been shown to mitigate sand erosion; however, only few studies have
used it on loess. This study used MICP to investigate the effects of
this technology on the improvement of the surface erosion resistance of
a loess-slope. Polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) was added to the cementation
solution to further increase slope stability. The obtained results
showed that MICP treatment resulted in an improvement of erosion
resistance and treatment with 6 L/m2 of mixed solution achieved the best
erosion control and highest surface strength. However, the loss of soil
in MICP treated slopes still remained large. After adding PVAc to the
cementation solution, the stability of the loess-slope increased
significantly and resulted in less soil loss and increased surface
strength. With 60 g/L PVAc, the surface strength of the slope decreased
compared with 40 g/L PVAc because of the thinner depth of cementation.
The high erosion resistance of the slope with added PVAc could be
attributed to (1) the stable spatial structure of precipitation, and (2)
the stronger resistance to tension or shear force from PVAc. These
results demonstrated that MICP-PVAc treatment significantly mitigated
surface erosion of loess-slopes, which presents promising potential for
application in the field.