Trenches for peace
Project description
’Trenches for Peace’ is a work of art, created in the natural landscape of the ‘Oirschotse Heide’ (‘Oirschot Heathland’), situated between the towns of Eindhoven and Oirschot. This work of art has the shape of the international ‘peace’ sign trenched 0.5 – 2 m into the heath; its diameter is 75 m! We applied MICP (Microbially Induced Carbonate Precipitation) to stabilize the sides of the excavated trenches. We used natural, indigenous, soil bacteria. The natural colours, tones & textures of the soil layers remain clearly visible and palpable.
Situation and approach
We started this project by testing multiple recipes in our laboratory, aiming to find the best suite of amendments to produce the desired slope stability. Next step was to inject the amendments into the soil, right on each side of the trenches (which were to be excavated later). Multiple injections were required to ascertain sufficient stabilization.
Groundwater Technology activities
Our part of the project consisted of developing the best recipe, supplying, and formulating all amendments and supervising injection by Franki Grondtechnieken, our partner in this project. We closely monitored that the recipe was followed precisely. We monitored the stabilisation process as it occurred and were able to adjust the injection strategy based on our monitoring data.