A Small-Strain Stiffness Model for Bio-Cemented Sands

Abstract This study introduces a small-strain stiffness model for bio-cemented sands, building upon the existing small-strain stiffness model for sands proposed by Wichtmann and Triantafyllidis. The small-strain stiffness of numerical specimens, including sand specimens with different void ratios and bio-cemented specimens with different microscopic features, is evaluated using the discrete element method (DEM). The acquired DEM results are utilised to develop the small-strain stiffness model for bio-cemented sands. The proposed model is able to describe the small-strain stiffness of DEM bio-cemented sands. In particular, different contributions of carbonates in different distribution patterns to G 0 enhancement can also be described by the proposed model.