ABSTRACT
Recent research have shown that the liquefaction potential of saturated sand can be drastically reduced if the sand is made slightly unsaturated. By introducing gas into the saturated sand, one can lessen the degree of saturation. However, injecting gas uniformly into sand is a challenging task. This paper describes the studies conducted to generate gas bubbles by introducing non-pathogenic denitrifying bacteria. The produced bio gas is tiny, chemically inert, less soluble, and has less impact on the environment. Triaxial cyclic tests are conducted on both saturated and partially saturated sand, as well as sand containing nitrogen gas bubbles created by bacteria to evaluate the effectiveness of this method towards liquefaction resistance. When the degree of saturation of the specimens is reduced from 100 to 90%, the excess pore water pressure generation and the liquefaction potential of sand under cyclic loading are found to be significantly reduced.
