Experimental Investigation of the Static and Dynamic Behavior of Sand-Tire Crumb Mixes

Abstract

With the increasing number of vehicles plying on the roads, alarming volumes of the waste tires are generated every year throughout the globe. The disposal of these materials is of great concern. The most efficient way to reduce their volume is to reuse these materials for various applications. To investigate the behavior of the scrap tire derivatives under cyclic load, a series of cyclic triaxial tests were conducted. Seven different mixes of sand and tire crumbs (by weight) were tested under three different confining pressures (50 kPa, 75 kPa, and 100 kPa) and four different shear strain amplitudes (0.075%, 0.15%, 0.225%, 0.3%). All the tests were reported for 200 loading cycles. The result showed that the addition of tire crumbs reduced the shear modulus and increased the damping ratio. The addition of tire crumbs reduced the modulus degradation rate remarkably and makes the material useful for structures subjected to cyclic loading. The resistance toward liquefaction is also increased drastically upon the addition of tire crumbs, and the mixes showed high resistance toward the generation of excess pore water pressure. The detailed characterization of sand-tire crumbs mixes reported in the present study can be very helpful when choosing the mix for different applications.