Future buildings could grow their own foundations
December 6, 2016Thinking Soils Presented at UC Berkeley and NASA Ames
November 10, 2017
We have just completed our Booster Grant application following our Computational Colloids Pilot Project. Inevitably in writing the follow-up grant we have been unable to include everything that we wanted. In particular we didn’t have room in our two page project report for a visual summary of our results or a diagram which helped to explain the methods for the new project. So this stuff doesn’t go to waste I am including it here.
Visual Summary of Project Results:
a: Is our bespoke pressure vessel to subject our bacteria to pressures similar to those in loaded saturated soils.
b: Is an electron microscope image of our bacteria in growing in hydrogels showing both the cells and the hydrogel matrix.
c: Images taken from the ConFocal microscopy showing 3D cultures – in this case of B. Subtilis.
d: Testing our bacteria hydrogel samples using triaxial compression.
e: The outcome of our new visualisation system using a model of load and water pore pressure in a loaded 10x10m cube of soil to data from our target pressure sensitive promoter.
f: The first 3D printed prototypes for the components of our bespoke loading rig to test our engineered bacteria filled hydrogel.
g: Artist impression of our system in operation.
Project Structure and Methods for Thinking Soils Booster Project
Our project is split into 3 connected core work packages looking at different scales in the design process. Molecular Design: Focused on the genetic design of the bacteria. Micro Design focused on the growth and distribution of bacteria in three dimensions and Macro focused on the modelling or geotechnical contexts and processes. These will feed the development of two sets of demonstrator: a Computational Demonstrator and a Physical Demonstrator which will show our system in context.
