Shredded waste tires as a stabilizing material for unpaved roads

Abstract EN

The main objective of this study is to investigate the feasibility of using shredded waste tires as a reinforcing material in road construction.

Triaxial and CBR tests were conducted on mixtures of base layer material (sand) and shredded waste tires.

Sand-tire mixtures were prepared with different shred contents by weight and different shred sizes.

These mixtures were subjected to identical laboratory tests to observe the influence of shredded waste tires on physical and engineering properties of sand-tire mixtures.

The following parameters were studied to evaluate their influence on shear strength and resistance to penetration: confining pressure, shred content, shred size and order of adding shredded tires.

Results indicated that generally, shredded waste tires increases the shear strength of sand and its resistance to penetration.

Shred content, shred size and order of adding tire shreds are most significant characteristics of the mixes influencing shear strength and resistance to penetration.

The higher improvement in shear strength is achieved with shred content equal to 6 % and shredded tire size of 5 × 5 mm in case of Triaxial test while in case of CBR test, the higher resistance penetration achieved with shred content of 3 % and shred size of 5 × 5 mm.