A SEMINAR ON

SELF HEALING CONCRETE

SUBMITTED BY
ANUSH SHARMA P S
4VP18CV004

In partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of

BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING
IN
CIVIL ENGINEERING

Department of Civil Engineering

(Accredited by NBA)
Vivekananda
College of Engineering & Technology
Nehru Nagar, Puttur, D.K – 574203
VISVESVARAYA TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY, BELAGAVI
2021-22
 VIVEKANANDA COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY
[A Unit of Vivekananda VidyavardhakaSangha, Puttur (R)]
Affiliated to Visvesvaraya Technological University and Approved by AICTE New Delhi & Govt. of Karnataka
Nehru Nagara, Puttur – 574 203, DK, Karnataka, India

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

(Accredited by NBA)

CERTIFICATE
Certified that the Seminar, carried out by Mr. ANUSH SHARMA P S, bearing USN
4VP18CV004 a bonafide student of Vivekananda College of Engineering & Technology, Puttur,
in partial fulfillment for the award of Bachelor of Engineering in Civil Engineering of the
Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belagavi during the year 2021 – 22. It is certified that all
corrections/ suggestions indicated for Internal Assessment have been incorporated in the report
deposited in the departmental library.
The Seminar report has been approved as it satisfies the academic requirements in respect of
individual seminar prescribed for the said Degree.

______________________ _________________________ ____________________

Signature of the Guide Signature of the Coordinator Signature of the HOD
Prof. Prashanth Prof. Jayakrishna Bhat D Dr. Anand V R
Prof. Shishirakrishna S
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1
SELF HEALING CONCRETE
1.1. INTRODUCTION................................................................................ 2
1.2. SELF HEALING CONCRETE .............................................................. 3
CHAPTER 2
2.1.CLASSIFICATION .......................................................................... 4
2.1.1. Autogenous Self-Healing .......................................................... 4
2.1.2 Autonomous Self-Healing .......................................................... 4

2.2. TYPES OF SELF-HEALING CONCRETE ........................................... 5

2.3. VARIOUS TYPES OF BACTERIA USED IN CONCRETE..................... 5

CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY
3.1. MECHANISM OF SELF HEALING CONCRETE: ............................. 6
3.2. MATERIAL ................................................................................... 6

3.3. PREPARATION OF SELF HEALING CONCRETE .......................... 6-7

3.4. PROCESSES OF SELF-HEALING CONCRETE ............................. 7-8

3.5. TESTING OF BACTERIAL CONCRETE ....................................... 8-9

3.6. APPLICATIONS OF SELF-HEALING CONCRETE: .......................... 9

3.7. ADVANTAGE AND DISADVANTAGES OF SELF-HEALING

CONCRETE ................................................................................ 10

CHAPTER 4
4.1 CONCLUSION ............................................................................... 11

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CHAPTER 1
SELF HEALING CONCRETE
1.1. INTRODUCTION
Concrete which forms major components in the construction Industry as it is cheap, easily
available and convenient to cast. Concrete is a material widely used for construction that can
withstand compressive loads but needs steel in order to resist tensile stresses; its brittle nature
makes it susceptible to cracks. But drawback of these materials is it is weak in tension so, it cracks
under sustained loading and due to aggressive environmental agent, which ultimately reduce the
life of the structure which are built using these materials. This process of damage occurs in the
early life of the building structure and also during its life time. Synthetic materials like epoxies are
used for remediation. But they are not compatible, costly, reduce aesthetic appearance and need
constant maintenance. Cracks pave way for the ingress of aggressive and potentially harmful fluids
or substances such as sulfate, chlorides and carbonates. These aggressive fluids permeate inside
the concrete, affecting the reinforcement by corrosion, thereby reducing the durability of the
concrete structure. Cracks may not be regarded as failure of the concrete but the introduction of
harmful substances create the need to seal these cracks by repairing the structure.

The rising costs associated with repairs have led researchers to consider alternatives of
crack sealing with growing interests in crack healing. Studies on the subject of self-healing have
shown promise in the use of organic and inorganic materials for sealing cracks. The introduction
of bacteria into the concrete mixture is one of such organic methods and works by precipitation of
calcium carbonate to fill up cracks in concrete. Self-healing concrete in general seeks to rectify
these flaws in order to extend the service life of any given concrete structure.

There is a material in the realm of self-healing concrete in development. now, that can
solve many of the problems commonly associated with standard concrete. This material is bacterial
self-healing concrete. Self-healing concrete consists of a mix with bacteria incorporated into the
concrete and calcium lactate food to support those bacteria when they become active. The bacteria,
feeding on the provided food source, heal the damage done and can also reduce the amount of
damage sustained by the concrete structure in place.

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1.2. SELF HEALING CONCRETE
Self-healing concrete is a new type of concrete. It imitates the automatic healing of body
wounds by the secretion of some kind of material. To create self-healing concrete, some special
materials (such as fibers or capsules), which contain some adhesive liquids, are dispensed into the
concrete mix. When cracks happen, the fibers or capsules will break and the liquid contained in
them will then heal the crack at once. However, self-healing concrete is only at the research stage.
Its application in the concrete industry is still some way off.

Self-healing concrete is mostly defined as the ability of concrete to repair its cracks
autogenously or autonomously. It is also called self-repairing concrete. Self-healing is actually an
old and well-known phenomenon for concrete as it possesses some natural autogenous healing
properties. Due to ongoing hydration of clinker minerals or carbonation of calcium hydroxide
(Ca(OH)2), cracks may heal after some time. However, autogenous healing is limited to small
cracks and is only effective when water is available, thus making it difficult to control.
Nonetheless, concrete may be modified to build in autonomous crack healing.

The "Bacterial Concrete" is a concrete which can be made by embedding bacteria in the
concrete that are able to constantly precipitate calcite. This phenomenon is called
microbiologically induced calcite precipitation. It has been shown that under favourable conditions
for instance Bacillus Pasteruii, a common soil bacterium, can continuously precipitate a new highly
impermeable calcite layer over the surface of an already existing concrete layer. The favourable
conditions do not directly exist in a concrete but have to be created. The figure shown below(fig.1)
is an example for self-healing concrete.

fig no.1 self-healing concrete

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CHAPTER 2
2.1. CLASSIFICATION
2.1.1. Autogenous Self-Healing:
The autogenous self-healing depends on most part of advanced hydration of concrete,
carbonation of calcium hydroxide as well as another binder while. The autogenous self-healing is
a traditional and famous method of concrete that occurred because of:

(1) Blocking cracks by waste

(2) Carbonation of CaOH

(3) Expansion of the hydrated concrete matrix in crack flanks and

(4) Ongoing hydration of clinker minerals cracks may heal after a while.

2.1.2 Autonomous Self-Healing:

Concrete Autonomous self-healing concrete entirely relied on manual method that
operates manually. The autonomous self-healing is been identify through a special terminology
such as:

1. The vascular method;

2. Capsule method;

3. The bacterial method;

4. The electrodepositing method;

5. The shape memory alloy method;

6. The microwave method and/or induction energy.

2.2. TYPES OF SELF-HEALING CONCRETE

There are two types of self-healing concrete

1. Biotic

2.Abiotic

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 1. Biotic concrete:
In biotic concrete we use bacteria .so it called as bacteria concrete. The bacteria
used for self-healing of cracks are acid-producing bacteria. The bacteria act as a
catalyst in the crack healing process. It is preferred when the concrete structure have
access to water or moisture.

• Mechanism of bacteria
When the cracks appear in the concrete, the water seeps in the cracks, the
spores of bacteria germinate and starts feeding on the calcium lactate is converted to
insoluble limestones, the insoluble limestone starts to harden us filling automatically
without any external aid.

2. Abiotic concrete

These are chemical compounds. It is preferred when there is no access to

moisture in a structure. Following table shows the efficiency of abiotic. Some,of the
chemicals are cyanoacrylate, epoxy, polyurethane (PU), methyl methacrylate(MMA),
dicyclopentadiene(DCPD), Na2SiO3 etc. are the healing agents which are mixed with
other components like water.

2.3. VARIOUS TYPES OF BACTERIA USED IN CONCRETE

There are various types of bacteria were used in bacterial concrete construction are:

• Bacillus pasteurizing
• Bacillus sphaericus
• Escherichia coli
• Bacillus subtilis
• Bacillus cohnii
• Bacillus balodurans
• Bacillus pseudofirmus

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CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY
3.1. MECHANISM OF SELF HEALING CONCRETE:
As a result of the biological reaction of non-reacted limestone and a calcium-based nutrient
self-healing concrete is formed, and calcium nutrients called ‘Calcium Lactate’ special type of
bacteria’s are known as’ ‘Bacillus’. These products are added to the wet concrete when the mixing
is done while preparation of concrete. For around 200 years, these bacteria can be in the dormant
stage.

The water seeps in the cracks when the cracks appear in the concrete, and spores of the
bacteria germinate and start feeding on the calcium lactate consuming oxygen. Then, to insoluble
limestone, the soluble calcium lactate is converted. Then the insoluble limestone starts to harden,
and then without any external aid filling, the crack automatically begins. It also helps prevent
corrosion of steel due to damages and improves the durability of steel-reinforced concrete.

3.2. MATERIAL
Self-healing materials are group of energetic materials that have the structurally combined
strength to fix damage created by mechanical way over time. The thought arises from biological
methods, which have the capacity to fix after being damage.

(1) Biomimetic Design Approaches

(2) Liquid-Based Healing Agents

(3) Self-Healing of Cementitious Composites

3.3. PREPARATION OF SELF HEALING CONCRETE

There are two ways for the preparation of self-healing concrete as given below;

1. Direct Application Method

2. Encapsulation Method

1. Direct Application Method:

In this method, when the mixing of concrete is done, bacterial spores and calcium
lactate are added to concrete directly. The average properties of concrete do not change
with the use of this bacteria and calcium lactate. To climatic changes, the bacteria are

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 exposed, and they germinate and feed on calcium lactate and produce limestone when water
comes in contact with these bacteria, and thus sealing the cracks is done.
2. Encapsulation Method
By encapsulation method the bacteria and its food i.e. calcium lactate, are placed
inside treated clay pellets and concrete is prepared. About 6% of the clay pellets are added
for making bacterial concrete. When concrete structures are made with bacterial concrete,
when the crack occurs in the structure and clay pellets are broken and the bacteria
germinate and eat down the calcium lactate and produce limestone, which hardens and thus
sealing the crack. Minor cracks about 0.5mm width can be treated by using bacterial
concrete. This method is commonly used even though its costlier than direct method.

3.4. PROCESSES OF SELF-HEALING CONCRETE

There are many processes of self-healing concrete technologies which are given below:

(i) Natural process;

(ii) Chemical process;

(iii) Biological process.

(i) Natural Self-healing process:

Some processes can partly fix concrete fracture in natural methods. Following are
the four processes that can block cracks in concretes:

1. The development of CaCO3 or CaOH is another method to prevent crack

2. Crack is obstructed by impurities in the carriage of water

3. Crack is further obstructed by hydration of the unreacted cement

4. Crack is impeded by the enlargement of hydrated cementitious pattern in the crack loins
(such as the lump of calcium silicate hydrate gel).

(ii) Chemical self-healing process

Chemical healing process mainly refers to the artificial healing by injecting
chemical compounds into the crack for healing. Self-healing concrete is designed by
mixing chemical liquid regents (i.e. glue) with fresh concrete in small containers. The two
common chemical methods that make use of glue addition to the concrete for healing
purposes:
(1) Hollow pipettes and vessel networks containing glue
(2) Encapsulated glue.

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 (iii) Biological self-healing process:
The use of microorganisms to design self-healing concrete has been categorized as
biological strategy by several researchers. Microorganisms can grow almost everywhere
such as soil, water and oil reservoir, acidic hot springs and industrial wastewater.
Microorganisms are mostly divided into three important categories: bacteria, fungi, and
viruses. Among these microorganisms, special strains of bacteria capable of precipitating
certain chemicals are used to design the biological self-healing concrete. Precipitation of
polymorphic iron-aluminium-silicate ((Fe5AI3) (SiAl)Ol0(OH)5) and calcium carbonate
(CaCO3) are the most important processes use for designing the biological self-healing
concretes. The process of calcite precipitation is influenced by the decomposition of urea
by bacteria, with aid of the bacterial urease enzyme. As a result of metabolism of bacteria
species give urease, that catalyses’ urea to ammonia and carbonate. Further these
components hydrolyse to carbonic acid and ammonium chloride that leads to the formation
of calcium carbonate (calcite crystal).
1. CO(NH2)2 + H2O → NH2COOH + NH3
2. NH2COOH + H2O → NH3 + H2CO3
3. H2CO3 ⇋ HCO-3+ H+
4. 2NH3 + 2H2O ⇋ 2NH4+ + 2OH-
5. HCO3- + H+ + 2NH4+ + 2OH- ⇋ CO32- + 2NH4+ + 2H2O

3.5. TESTING OF BACTERIAL CONCRETE

Concrete disks are prepared containing the porous aggregates filled with food only and
with food and bacteria. The specimens are cured for 56 days and then tested in a deformation
controlled tensile splitting loading to crack them partially. After this cracking the specimens are
placed in a permeability test setup in which water is applied at one side of the specimen for 24
hours. After the healing the cracks are examined under the microscope and the results were
observed. Also, the permeability of the healed specimens was determined. The outcome of this
study shows that crack healing in bacterial concrete is much more efficient than in concrete of the
same composition but without added biochemical healing agent. The reason for this can be
explained by the strictly chemical processes in the control and additional biological processes in
the bacterial concrete. On the crack surface of control concrete some calcium carbonate will be
formed due to the reaction of CO2 present in the crack ingress water with Portlandite (calcium
hydroxide) present in the concrete mixture according to the following reaction:

CO2 + Ca (OH)2 → CaCO3 + H2O

The amount of calcium carbonate production in this case in only minor due to the limited
amount of CO2 present. As Portlandite is a rather soluble mineral in fact most of it present on the
crack surface will dissolve and diffuse out of the crack into the overlying water mass.

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Subsequently, as more CO2 is present in the overlying water, dissolved Portlandite will as yet
precipitate in the form of calcium carbonate but somewhat away from the crack itself, as can be
seen. The self-healing process in bacterial concrete is much more efficient due to the active
metabolic conversion of calcium lactate by the present bacteria:

Ca(C3H5O2)2 + 7O2 → CaCO3 + 5CO2 + 5H2O

This process does not only produce calcium carbonate directly but also indirectly via the
reaction of on-site produced CO2 with Portlandite present on the crack surface. In the latter case,
Portlandite does not dissolve and diffuse away from the crack surface, but instead reacts directly
on the spot with local bacterially produced CO2 to additional calcium carbonate. This process
results in efficient crack sealing as can be seen.

3.6. APPLICATIONS OF SELF-HEALING CONCRETE:

• It can be actively used in the case of roads to reduce traffic jams.
• Also used by the oil and gas industries, preventing small cracks from spreading.
• It can be used to strengthen both existing and new types of structural building.
• It is effective in areas where buildings undergo freezing and thawing.
• This can prove to be economical in the case of irrigation works, dams that are directly
in contact with water.
• This concrete can be used for sectors such as tunnel-linings, structural basement walls,
highways, bridges, concrete floors, and marine structures.
• It is a new technology that can give way to sustainable roads.
• In high strength buildings with more bearing capacity.

3.7. ADVANTAGE AND DISADVANTAGES OF SELF-HEALING

CONCRETE

1. Advantages
• Redressing of cracks can be done efficiently.

• It offers great resistance against freeze and thaw attacks.

• It has lower permeability when compared to conventional concrete.

• The use of self-healing concrete significantly enhances the strength of concrete.

• Th chances of corrosion of reinforcement are reduced to negligible.

• Overall maintenance cost of this concrete is low.

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2. Disadvantages
• The investigations involved to observe calcite precipitation are costly.

• Cost of this concrete is comparatively higher than conventional concrete;

it’s about 10-30% more than conventional concrete.

• There is no design of bacterial concrete is mentioned in IS codes or any

other codes.

• Bacteria that are used in concrete are not good for human health; hence its

usage should be limited to the structure.

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CHAPTER 4
CONCLUSION
Self-healing concrete is the best solution for the demand of sustainable concrete due to its
ability of self-repair and durability. In future, self-healing concrete is going to play the most
important role in concrete technology.

Microbial concrete technology has proved to be better than many conventional technologies
because of its eco-friendly nature and self-healing abilities. It increases the life span of the
structure.

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