Experimental investigation of bearing capacity of sand reinforced with randomly distributed tire shreds

A series of laboratory model tests has been carried out to investigate the using of shredded waste tires as reinforcement to increase the bearing capacity of soil. Shred content and shreds aspect ratio are the main parameters that affect the bearing capacity. Tire shreds with rectangular shape and widths of 2 and 3 cm with aspect ratios 2, 3, 4 and 5 are mixed with sand. Five shred contents of 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% and 50% by volume were selected. Addition of tire shreds to sand increases BCR (bearing capacity ratio) from 1.17 to 3.9 with respect to shred content and shreds aspect ratio. The maximum BCR is attained at shred content of 40% and dimensions of 3 × 12 cm. It is shown that increasing of shred content increases the BCR. However, an optimum value for shred content is observed after that increasing shreds led to decrease in BCR. For a given shred width, shred content and soil density it seems that aspect ratio of 4 gives maximum BCR.