Biobased-Sustainable Choices to Improve Seismic Resilience of Soils

Poor strength of soils under dynamic loading conditions can trigger catastrophic failures during earthquakes, which are manifested in the form of landslides, lateral spreading of sloped ground and ground failure. Collapse of structures founded on such soils leads to loss of life and damage to infrastructure. Such conditions can be tackled through mechanical, physical, chemical, hydraulic or thermal treatment of the soils. Many of the conventional ground improvement methods like grouting or deep soil mixing involve addition or injection of cement or lime into the soil. Recent strides in developing bio-based sustainable ground improvement methods showed great promise in providing effective improvement under diverse loading scenarios. Though several bio-based ground improvement methods are being researched, the long-term and large-scale applications of many of these methods need further investigations. This paper presents a critical assessment of existing biobased-sustainable approaches geared toward enhancing the strength of soils to withstand dynamic loads.