The Application of Shredded Rubber Tire in Construction
Author:
Alexander LemmonMentor:
Binod Tiwari, Associate Professor, California State University FullertonAccording to a survey in USA, approximately 300 million tires are dumped into landfills every year. There is an urgent need to recycle those disposed rubber tires. The goal of this research is to check if those tires can be used in civil engineering applications to strengthen the properties of poor quality soils. Kaolin clay is considered as highly undesirable soil for geotechnical applications due to its poor geotechnical properties that includes but not limited to low compressive strength and large deformation potential. Therefore, if adding shredded rubber tires in kaolin can improve the geotechnical properties, it would help in reducing the amount of dumped tires in the landfill as well as increasing the properties of weak soil to make it feasible for civil engineering application. In this study, the rubber tires, obtained from a commercial source, were refined into sizes coarser than 0.6mm in diameter and then were mixed with the kaolin clay at various proportions of rubber tire ranging from 2% to 30%. Each soil mixture was tested using the Modified Proctor Compaction Test and following the ASTM D1557 procedures. Additionally, the soil samples were also tested using Standard Test Method for Unconfined Compressive Strength of Cohesive Soil and following the ASTM D2166 procedures. Based on the test results, optimum moisture content, maximum dry density, and peak compressive strength of soil were improved with the addition of shredded rubber tires. Adding 10% and 6% rubber tire showed the highest improvements in density and compressive strength, respectively.