Potential of Using Cemented Soil-Tire Chips Mixture as Construction Fill: a Laboratory Study

Xin, L.; He, J.; Liu, H., and Shen, Y., 2015. Potential of using cemented soil-tire chips mixture as construction fill: A laboratory study.

Waste materials that are generated in large quantities, such as waste rubbers, plastics, and dredged soils, can potentially be reused as fill materials in construction projects. It will bring both economical and environmental benefits. This paper firstly presents a review on different methods of reusing scrap tires and waste soils in constructions. Then, a new method of using these two wastes as a fill material is proposed and experimentally evaluated. The material is formed by mixing waste soils, scrap tire chips, Portland cement, and water together in varying proportions. Isotropic compression and triaxial consolidated undrained compression tests were carried out. The geotechnical properties of the material with varying additions of different components are investigated. It is found that adding more tire chips in the material leads to an evident improvement in the undrained strength; while the compressibility of the specimens with 0–60% tire chips content (to dry soil by weight) does not change very much. The test results also manifest that increasing cement content is an effective way to reduce the compressibility and improve the undrained strength, indicating that the mechanical behavior of the material can be well controlled by adjusting the cement addition. Thanks to its advantageous features such as small compressibility and adjustable strength, the material is suitable for quaywall backfill and embankment fill in port or transportation constructions.