Bacteria-based self-healing concrete is a construction material used to repair cracks in concrete, in which the bacterial spores are immobilized by bacteria carriers. However, the currently available bacteria carriers are not always suitable due to a complicated procedure or high cost. To develop a more suitable bacteria carrier as well as improve the anti-crack capability of self-healing concrete, in this study we evaluate the feasibility of using rubber particles as a novel bacteria carrier in self-healing concrete. Two types of self-healing concrete are prepared with rubber particles of different sizes to quantify the crack-healing effect. In addition, the fluidity and mechanical properties of the self-healing rubber concrete are compared with those of plain concrete and normal rubber concrete. The experimental results show that the self-healing rubber concrete with a particle size of 1~3 mm has a better healing capacity than the self-healing rubber concrete with a particle size of 0.2~0.4 mm, and the width value of the completely healed crack is 0.86 mm. The self-healing rubber concrete has a higher slump than the plain concrete and normal rubber concrete. According to the strength tests, the compressive strengths of the self-healing rubber concrete are low early on but they exceed those of the corresponding normal rubber concrete at 28 days. Moreover, the self-healing rubber concrete has higher splitting tensile strengths than the plain concrete and a better anti-crack capability. The results of a comparison to the other two representative bacterial carriers indicate that rubber particles have potential to be a widely used bacteria carrier for practical engineering applications in self-healing concrete.

Biogrouting, which is a new method for soil improvement, was used in an attempt to cement a type of hydraulic fill fine sands (called black sands) in reclamation projects in Tianjin, China, to form a working layer for mechanical equipment. Several factors influencing biogrouting with regard to cementing solution, including injection frequency, reaction time, concentration, and flow rate, were controlled to prepare black sand columns. This paper reports on an investigation of bacterial fixation, calcium ion utilization, and calcium carbonate distributions of biogrouted sand specimens. At the end of the tests, the geotechnical performances of the sand specimens were determined. The results showed that the biogrouting method effectively solidified black sands, by increasing the unconfined compressive strength of a sand column to 1.91 MPa and reducing the permeability coefficient by three orders of magnitude. A relationship between the unconfined compressive strengths and calcium carbonate contents was put forward, in addition to a relationship between the permeability coefficients and the calcium carbonate contents. According to the experimental results, some reasonable suggestions regarding the application of biogrouting to the consolidation of hydraulic fill fine sands in reclamation projects were proposed.