Influence of tire fiber inclusions on shear strength of sand

摘要

ABSTRACT: Reinforcement of soils with natural and synthetic fibers is a viable technique fornincreasing the soil strength. The objective of this study is to reinforce sand with tire wasteninclusions. In this study, two different experimental programs were performed. In the first program,nsand, tire crumb and tire crumb–sand mixtures were tested in the standard direct shear testnequipment to observe the optimum content for modifying the shear strength properties of the sand.nIn the second program, large-scale direct shear tests were performed to observe the shear strengthnimprovement imparted by tire waste inclusions. Two different processed tire wastes were used: tirencrumb (TC) and fiber-shaped tire buffings (TB). The tire buffings were divided into two parts fornrepresenting different aspect ratios (TB1 and TB2). The following factors were studied to evaluatenthe influence of TC, TB1 and TB2 inclusions on the shear strength: normal stress, tire waste type,naspect ratio, and tire waste content. Three factors were found to significantly affect the shearnstrength values: normal stress, aspect ratio, and tire waste content. Also, it is seen that increasingnthe aspect ratio of the fibers increases the shear strength of the mixture.