Effect of tyre powder penetration on stress and stability of the road embankments

Abstract

Vehicle tyres are shred due to the friction induced by road surface texture. The shredded tyre particles might then penetrate into the roadside embankment during rain. In this study, the stability of roadside embankment containing 0.25–1.5% of tyre powder is examined. Also the change in extreme stress and displacement is evaluated. Mechanical characteristics of soil–tyre powder mixture are defined through laboratory tests and are used as input parameters needed for PLAXIS software analysis. The results show that the optimum percentage of tyre powder in embankment in terms of stress and displacement is about 0.5%. It is also shown that more penetration of tyre powder in embankment increases the factor of safety against sliding.

Keywords:

• road embankment
• tyre powder
• stress
• strain
• safety factor

Acknowledgements

The authors want to thank ISATISS RUBBER PCOCESS Company of Iran-Yazd for their support with providing tyre powder. This work was supported by Yazd University.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.