A Model for the Characterization of the Scrap Tire Bale Interface

Abstract

Tire bales are large rectangular blocks consisting of compressed whole scrap tires that are an alternative lightweight fill material to the tire shred used in highway structures. The bales are typically assumed to act as discrete blocks for short term conditions, in which the controlling mode of failure is sliding along the jagged surfaces of the bales. Stresses along the irregular tire bale surfaces were defined using a planar footprint area of the bale, defined as the product of the average bale length and width. An alternative model for the characterization of the threedimensional tire bale surface was developed that represented the actual behavior along the bale surface during shear deformations. The model, which was based on force equilibrium, was used to calculate the geometric parameters of tire bale interface controlling the interface shear resistance using data obtained from large scale direct shear testing of the tire bales and small scale testing of flat tire plates.