Microbial induced calcite precipitation (MICP) is a new soil improvement technique that shows an enhancement of the shear strength and shear wave velocity. However, the mechanical property of the calcite bond at particle-scale level, which controls macroscopic responses of soil, remains unexplored. This paper focuses on the measurement of calcite tensile and shear strength between two glass beads (simulating two sand particles) treated by MICP. The glass beads were mounted on separate movable stages attached by a displacement actuator. Then, MICP treatment was introduced to induce calcite precipitation on the glass beads. After the treatment, the stage was slowly moved sideward or upward to generate tensile or shear force on calcite bond between the two glass beads. The measured ultimate tensile and shear forces were 0.02 N and 1.94 N, respectively. The maximum tensile and shear strength in the calcite bond were 41.1 kPa and 616.5 kPa.
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