Investigation on Civil Engineering Application of Tyre Encased Soil Element: Laboratory Direct Shear Test and Supply Chain Analysis

Abstract

The reuse of end-of-life (EOL) tyres as earth reinforcement materials in civil engineering projects have been studied for decades. Entire EOL tyres infilled with compacted soil can form segmental tyre encased soil elements (TESEs) with considerable load-bearing capacity. The TESEs can be used to construct structures like low-rise buildings, railway foundations and geotechnical structures. One of the most important aspects of TESE systems, i.e., the shearing interaction between neighbouring units is not yet well understood. In this study, thirty-six laboratory tests have been conducted to investigate the response of TESEs under intercourse shear actions. This was followed by a supply chain environment and economic analysis to investigate the acceptability of the system. The results revealed that the type of encased soil had more effect on the interface interactions between courses of TESEs compared to the TESEs’ construction pattern. It was also found that the frictional coefficient could be increased by either using coarse and angular aggregates as the encased soil or reducing the amount of the encased soil to form a high portion of rubber-to-rubber contact at the composite interface. Supply chain environment and economic analysis revealed that using entire tyres as construction materials has low CO2 emission and considerable economic benefits.