Performance and Time-Dependent Compression Behavior of Highway Fill Material Constructed Using Tire Derived Aggregate

Daniel Meles, Alireza Bayat, Somayeh Nassiri, Roger Skirrow

In the proceedings of: GeoMontréal 2013: 66th Canadian Geotechnical Conference; 11th joint with IAH-CNC

Session: Geoenvironmental Sustainability

ABSTRACT: Tire Derived Aggregate (TDA) is made by shredding scrap tires into 50 to 300 mm pieces, and has been successfully used as a fill material in various highway construction projects in the USA and other countries. To evaluate the performance of TDA in cold climate, a large-scale field experiment was performed in Edmonton, Alberta. The test embankment is 80 m long and contains four different test sections, each 20 m long. The embankment is also instrumented with temperature probes, settlement plates, and earth pressure cells. Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) tests were also conducted on the embankment after the placement of the 1 m soil cover, base course and asphalt. This paper presents the findings from FWD and the field instrumentation data that was collected during and post construction of the test embankment.

RÉSUMÉ: Agrégat dérivés de pneus (TDA) est faite par déchiquetage en pneus usés de 50 à 300 mm pièces, et a été utilisé avec succès comme un matériau de remplissage dans divers projets de construction routière aux Etats-Unis et d'autres pays. Pour évaluer la performance de TDA dans un climat froid, une expérience de terrain à grande échelle a été réalisée à Edmonton, en Alberta. Le remblai d'essai est de 80 m de long et se compose de quatre sections d'essai différentes, chacune 20 m de long. Le talus est aussi instrumenté avec des sondes de température, des plaques de règlement et les cellules de pression des terres. La chute de poids déflectomètre (FWD) essais ont également été menés sur le quai après le placement du cours 1-m cache de la base du sol, et de l'asphalte. Cet article présente les résultats d'AV et les données d'instrumentation sur le terrain qui ont été recueillies pendant et après la construction de la digue de test. 1. INTRODUCTION pieces of scrap tires that have a basic geometrical shape and are generally between 12 and 305 mm in size and are D 6270-08). TDA is lightweight, free-draining, and has high thermal resistivity. It is used as fill for embankments, retaining walls and bridge abutments, and as an insulation layer to limit frost penetration. It is also used for French drains and as a drainage layer for roads (Humphrey 2008) and as leachate collection media. The use of TDA for civil engineering applications has economic and environmental benefits such as eliminating the need to store the discarded tires in landfill sites. TDA can be produced from different discarded tire sources. The major source is Passenger and Light Truck Tire (PLTT). PLTT includes discarded tire that are designed for use on passenger, light and multipurpose (ARMA 2013). In some regions with heavy industrial and mining activities, such as the Province of Alberta, Canada, discarded tires from Off-The-Road tires (OTR) has also become a significant source of TDA. OTR include discarded tires designed for use on vehicles or equipment, including construction, mining, earthmover, and etc with rim diameter up to In Alberta, TDA is used for landfill drainage application, however, the application of TDA as highway embankment fill is new. Specific traffic loading and environmental conditions in Alberta require a study in the application of TDA for Alberta highway projects to ensure that it provides safety to road users as well as longer service life. In addition, the capability of tire recycling industries to process all types of waste tire into TDA and the growing stockpiles of discarded OTR encouraged Alberta Recycling and Alberta Transportation to investigate TDA as embankment fill material for highway projects. To evaluate the performance of TDA in cold climate, a large-scale field experiment was performed in Edmonton, Alberta. The test embankment contains four different sections, made of two TDA fills from two different tire sources (PLTT and OTR), TDA from PLTT mixed with soil and a control section. This paper presents the field measurements that were collected during and after the construction of the test embankment. 2. PROJECT OVERVIEW AND CONSTRUCTION The test embankment is 80 m long, and contains four different test sections, each 20 m long. The four test sections are made of 1) TDA from PLTT, 2) TDA from OTR, 3) TDA from PLTT mixed with soil at a 50/50 ratio by volume and 4) a control section made from native soil. PLTT was used as a base to compare the results of this study with similar projects reported in the literature. OTR, which is a significant waste in the province of Alberta,

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