End-of-life tyres are increasingly presenting waste management challenges owing to the large volumes disposed of annually.

These waste tyres possess unique properties that can once again reused in a sustainable materials stream to supplement the resource intensive geotechnical engineering industry.

This study investigates the effect of waste tyre shreds randomly included in typical South Africa sands to enhance the engineering properties.

A series of shear strength tests were performed on the sand-tyre shred mixtures of Cape Flats and Klipheuwel sands using a large direct shear box of dimensions 300mm x 300mm.

Two relative sizes of tyre shreds, 10-15 mm and 50-60 mm, were mixed with sand various concentrations by weight. The results revealed a general increase in the shear strength parameters of both types of sand on inclusion of the tyre sheds.

The possibility of using waste tyre shreds in geotechnical applications specifically as lightweight fill and reinforcement material for the construction of highway embankments could provide an alternative use for the discarded tyres.

Download technical paper here.