Innovative Fungi Fiber Reinforced Soil for Sustainable Soil Improvements

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This project aims to explore an innovative bio-mediated fiber reinforced soil concept that can significantly improve soil erosion resistance. Soil erosion by stream or wind causes significant environmental and economic consequences. The estimated cost of soil erosion on the US farmland is as high as $44 billion per year. Wind-induced soil erosion associated with construction or mining activities, i.e., dust, negatively impacts air quality and consequently the health of workers, their communities, and the environment. Soil erosion around bridge foundations (i.e., bridge scour) is the No. 1 cause of bridge failures. Improvement of soil erosion resistance requires enhancing the inter-particle bonds, which is commonly achieved by use of chemicals such as lime or cement. Such treatments, however, are not sustainable since the production of these chemicals consumes nonrenewable resources and produces significant carbon footprints. This innovative research will leverage fibrous fungi, a microorganism abundant in soils, to achieve environmentally-benign, sustainable soil improvement by: 1) reinforcing the soil microstructure with the fungi-induced bio-adhesion and fiber network, and 2) leveraging the hydrophobic nature of fungi fibers to reduce the interfacial erosive shear stress induced by flowing water. The project will provide graduate and undergraduate students opportunities to work on an interdisciplinary research topic. The recruitment efforts will emphasize involving female and minority students. The research will be incorporated into instructional materials. The project outcomes will be disseminated via a variety of outreach activities on the Case Western Reserve University campus and in collaboration with local communities. The goal of this research is to understand the multiscale interactions between fungi and soils, and therefore, offer insight on how fungi-soil interactions can be tailored to improve soil erosion resistance. The research objectives of this research include: 1) the study of topological interactions between fungi and soil, fungi adaptation to soil microstructure and response to bio-stimuli to design tactics to tailor the growth of fungi fibers in soil; 2) the understanding of the physico-chemical interactions between fungi and soil particles to guide the development of models describing the effects of fungi fiber on soil engineering behaviors; 3) the assessment of the effects of fungi on soil macroscopic performance properties, such as the soil aggregation, fiber reinforcement, soil water characteristics, and transport properties and how these improve the soil erosion resistance. The research will generate foundational knowledge on fungi-soil interactions and quantify their impacts on the soil engineering properties. It will break new ground in biomediated geotechnical engineering for sustainable soil improvement.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.