Assessment of climatic variation on bio cement mortar-based infrastructure

Abstract

Over the last few decades, effects of climate change have been widely studied by researchers. This change alters environmental conditions, which in turns influence the activities of bacteria. Therefore, this study assesses the effect of climatic variation on bio cement mortar- based infrastructure. This is achieved by evaluating the effects of temperature and relative humidity on the compressive strength of bio cement mortar. The bacteria used in the bio cement mortar are bacillus subtilis. 30 ml of bacillus subtiliss pore solution was added to the mix to create bio cement mortar. Test sample cubes of bio cement mortar were prepared and cured at different temperatures and different relative humidity. In addition, control sample cubes of cement mortar without bacteria were water cured. The 7- and 28-days compressive strengths were obtained. The results showed that the compressive strength of the bio cement mortar increased as both temperature and relative humidity increased. The 7- and 28-days compressive strengths increased by as much as 83.3% and 110% respectively when temperature increased, and by as much as 106.1% and 73.5% respectively when relative humidity was increased.