Tire Shreds as Lightweight Fill for Embankments and Retaining Walls

by Dana N. Humphrey, Dept. of Civil and Envtl. Eng., University of Maine, 5711 Boardman Hall, Orono, ME 04469-5711, United States,
Nathan Whetten, Dept. of Civil and Envtl. Eng., University of Maine, 5711 Boardman Hall, Orono, ME 04469-5711, United States,
James Weaver, Dept. of Civil and Envtl. Eng., University of Maine, 5711 Boardman Hall, Orono, ME 04469-5711, United States,
Kenneth Recker, Dept. of Civil and Envtl. Eng., University of Maine, 5711 Boardman Hall, Orono, ME 04469-5711, United States,
Tricia A. Cosgrove, Dept. of Civil and Envtl. Eng., University of Maine, 5711 Boardman Hall, Orono, ME 04469-5711, United States,



Document Type: Proceeding Paper

Part of: Recycled Materials in Geotechnical Applications

Abstract:

Use of tire shreds in three highway projects is described. In the first project, tire shreds were used as a compressible inclusion to reduce pressures on a rigid frame bridge. Earth pressures were reduced by more than 50%. In the second project, a 4.3-m thick zone of tire shreds was used as lightweight fill to improve global stability of a bridge approach fill founded on weak clay. In addition, the tire shreds reduced horizontal pressure on the bridge abutment. In the third project, two layers of tire shreds, each up to 3.05 m thick, were used as lightweight fill for a highway embankment founded on weak clay. These were the first projects to incorporate design features to minimize internal self-heating of tire shred fills. Measured temperatures showed that no deleterious self-heating occurred. These projects demonstrate that tire shreds can be used as lightweight fill for retaining walls and embankments. Moreover, properly designed tire shred fills do not experience a deleterious self-heating reaction.

Subject Headings: Tire recycling | Fills | Project management | Retaining structures | Bridge abutments | Temperature measurement | Highways and roads

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