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75

Tire-reinforced earthfill. Part 1: Construction of a

test fill, performance, and retaining wall design
Vinod K. Garga and Vince O’Shaughnessy

Abstract: The satisfactory disposal of scrap tires is a major environmental problem worldwide. This waste occupies
valuable space in landfill sites, and tire stockpiles pose serious health and fire hazards. The use of scrap tires as rein-
forcement for construction of retaining walls and slopes is a viable method towards reduction of this waste. This paper
describes the construction of a 57 m high × 17 m wide instrumented test fill, comprising both retaining wall and rein-
forced slope sections. Approximately 10 000 whole tires and tires with one sidewall removed, tied together with poly-
propylene rope, were used in both cohesionless and cohesive backfills. The testing program also included plate loading
tests, field pull-out tests on tire mats, water-quality assessment in the field and laboratory, and other complementary
laboratory testing. This first paper, in a series of three, demonstrates the practical feasibility of constructing reinforced
earth fills using scrap tires. Results of large plate load tests and the field behaviour with particular reference to the de-
sign of the retaining wall sections are presented. The paper emphasizes the role of negative wall friction in increasing
the active thrust when the retaining wall becomes more compressible than the backfill. Recommendations for the de-
sign of retaining walls using scrap tires are presented.

Key words: scrap tires, earth reinforcement, retaining walls, reinforced slopes, plate load test, construction, performance.

Résumé : L’entreposage satisfaisant des pneus usés constitue un problème environnemental majeur à travers le monde.
Ces déchets occupent un espace d’une certaine valeur sur les sites d’enfouissement, alors que les empilements de pneus
représentent un risque pour la santé et pour le feu. L’utilisation de pneus usés comme armature dans la construction de
murs de soutènement et de pentes de talus constitue une méthode efficace pour la diminution de ces déchets. Cet arti-
cle décrit la construction d’un remblai d’essai instrumenté de 57 m × 17 m de largeur, comprenant les sections du mur
de soutènement et des pentes du talus armés. Environ 10 000 pneus complets et pneus amputés d’une paroi latérale,
reliés entre eux avec un câble de polypropylène ont été utilisés dans des remblais de sols tant cohérents que
pulvérulents. Le programme d’essais incluait également des essais de chargement sur plaque, des essais d’arrachement
de matelas de pneus sur le terrain, des essais d’évaluation de la qualité de l’eau sur le terrain et en laboratoire, et
d’autres essais complémentaires en laboratoire. Ce premier article d’une série de trois démontre la faisabilité pratique
de la construction de remblais de sol arméavec des pneus usés. L’on présente les résultats d’essais de chargement sur
de grandes plaques et le comportement sur le terrain particulièrement en rapport avec la conception des sections de
murs de soutènement. Cet article souligne le rôle du frottement négatif du mur dans l’accroissement de la résultante de
poussée lorsque le mur de soutènement devient plus compressible que le remblai. L’on présente des recommandations
pour la conception de murs de soutènement au moyen de pneus usés.

Mots clés : pneus usés, armature de sol, murs de soutènement, pentes de talus armées, essai de chargement de plaques,
construction, performance.

[Traduit par la Rédaction] 96

Introduction landfills (Blumenthal 1998). Canada generates over 28 mil-

Garga and O’Shaughnessy
lion equivalent passenger tires per year, of which approxi-
Scrap tires are undesired urban waste which are produced mately 30% are disposed in landfills or tire stockpiles
at increasing rates every year, particularly in metropolitan (CCME 1994). Scrap tires thus require large disposal areas,
areas. They are nondegradable and, because of their shape, since whole tires are resistant to compaction. Stockpiling of
quantity, and compaction resistance, require a large amount scrap tires is also undesirable because of the potential fire
of space for storage. It is estimated that the United States hazard and consequent environmental damage and can pro-
discards approximately 50 million used tires annually into vide a good breeding habitat for disease-carrying insects and
vermin. Sanitary landfills are now becoming expensive engi-
neered facilities and therefore it is no longer economically
Received March 10, 1998. Accepted June 17, 1999.
feasible to store large volumes of waste tires. Consequently,
V.K. Garga and V. O’Shaughnessy1. Department of Civil there is an urgency to develop new, energy-efficient, benefi-
Engineering, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5, cial ways to recycle and reuse large volumes of scrap tires.
Canada.
A tire is composed of rubber or polymer material strongly
1
Present address: Inter-Tech Engineering Inc., 251 Bank St., reinforced with synthetic fibres and high-strength steel
Suite 608, Ottawa, ON K2P 1X3, Canada. which produces a material having unique properties such as

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76 Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 37, 2000

Fig. 1. The different components of a radial tire.

very high tensile strength, flexibility, resiliency, and high and a high-strength steel wire reinforcing bead. The different
frictional resistance. Its mechanical properties remain avail- components of a radial tire are presented in Fig. 1. The
able even after its ordinary life as a car wheel element has beads consist of rubber-covered metal wires or braids that
expired. These unique material properties can be exploited do not easily deform. The tire fabric is usually made of
to construct reinforced retaining walls and earthfills. If lay- braided rayon cord. Today’s steel-belted passenger car tires
ers of tires, side by side, are tied together to make a mat, are manufactured with about 9.8–12.5% steel by weight
filled with soil, and then placed in successive layers, the re- (Humphrey 1996).
sulting structure can be used as a retaining wall or a rein- Tires are composed of polymeric materials, mainly vulca-
forced slope and can provide a practical alternative for the nized rubber, and therefore are usually not susceptible to
use of this waste. The concept is similar to that employed in corrosion. However, initial mechanical properties of the tire
the use of geosynthetics for soil reinforcement which is well material may be altered due to physical–chemical aging, UV
accepted in engineering practice. The durability of tires radiation, creep, and damage occurring during construction.
makes them particularly attractive for use in earth structures. Physical–chemical aging occurs as a result of the chemical
In particular, the use of tires without shredding or breaking nature of polyester and polyamides that can be hydrolyzed.
down as tire chips is desirable because energy is not wasted Hydrolysis of polyester material is a function of tempera-
in further processing this waste material. Such structures can ture, pH, and stress level. However, hydrolysis may never be
be built using conventional construction techniques. observed within the service life of the reinforced soil struc-
An extensive study was carried out involving the construc- ture (Leclercq et al. 1990). Macromolecular chains of poly-
tion of a large instrumented prototype test fill at an automo- mers are susceptible to UV radiation and ozone breakdown.
bile recycling yard near Ottawa. The scope of this These phenomena can be neglected in most cases because
investigation included plate loading tests, field tire reinforce- the tire-reinforcing elements are sheltered from UV radiation
ment pull-out tests, water-quality assessment in the field and (covered by soil) and ozone concentration in soils is negligi-
laboratory, and other complementary laboratory testing. The ble. Strong acid (pH ≈ 1) will destroy rubber. However, re-
test fill comprised gravity retaining walls constructed of tires ported pH values for acidic groundwater usually range
and tire-reinforced slopes. The objective of this paper and between 4 and 5. At these pH levels, deterioration of the
the companion papers (O’Shaughnessy and Garga 2000a, rubber is minimal. However, this parameter could be impor-
2000b) is to present the results of these investigations and to tant if waste material from industrial waste or acid mine tail-
propose construction and design guidelines for such struc- ings is used as backfill. Damage during construction and
tures. This paper emphasizes the construction of the proto- from compaction of fill has not been observed or reported.
type structure with particular reference to the design and Tires are able to withstand high stress levels imposed during
behaviour of the retaining wall sections and the plate load compaction by being able to deform to the same extent as
tests. Aspects related to the behaviour and design of tire- the surrounding soil. If tires are tied together to form a tire
reinforced slopes are treated in detail in O’Shaughnessy and mat, the interconnecting elements such as steel bars, polyes-
Garga (2000a). ter straps, and ropes could be subjected to greater construc-
tion damage than the surrounding tires. The amount of
Tire-reinforced earthfills damage would be a function of the tensile strength and flexi-
bility of the connection.
Tire as a construction material AB-Malek and Stevenson (1986) studied the physical con-
Tires are fabricated with vulcanized rubber that contains dition of vulcanized natural rubber submerged in 24 m
reinforcing textile cords, high-strength steel or fabric belts, of seawater for a period of 42 years. Their investigation

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Garga and O’Shaughnessy 77

revealed that no serious deterioration of the rubber had ment was rebuilt by reinforcing the soil with tire sidewall
occurred. After 42 years of submersion, the maximum mats that were vertically spaced at 0.6 m. The individual tire
amount of water adsorbed was 4.7% and had no adverse ef- sidewalls were joined together by steel clips to form a con-
fect on strength properties. The limited amount of water ab- tinuous mat that was then extended beyond the embankment
sorption was attributed to the formation of a thin surface face by 100–150 mm to provide erosion protection. The use
layer (0.05 mm) of an iron base material. There was no vi- of tire sidewall mats permitted the construction of a side
sual breakdown of the tire by marine organisms. The thin slope of 0.5H:1V, rather than the conventional 1.5H:1V,
rubber layer prevented corrosion of the mild steel tire rein- which resulted in a saving of some 70 000 m3 of expensive
forcement, even in water which was highly oxygenated. As a fill (Hausmann 1990).
result, even worn tires provide a very high quality reinforc- Drescher and Newcomb (1994) mention several practical
ing material that is very resistant to corrosion and deterioration. applications of scrap tire projects in California. One project
used scrap truck tires to control shoulder erosion of an em-
Resistance to fire bankment on Route 32 in Tehama County. Here, whole truck
Tires are a combustible material, and the reported ignition tires were interconnected with 2.7 mm steel reinforcing bars
of tire chips used in some fills (not used in the present re- to form a continuous mat. The reinforcing mats were se-
search) can be a matter of concern (Humphrey 1996). How- cured to the embankment by salvage anchor posts and then
ever, recent tire shred fills constructed in accordance with covered with approximately 0.7 m of compacted permeable
new design guidelines which minimize internal heating have fill.
remained inert (Whetten et al. 1997). Soil structures con- The first project in England using scrap tires was the con-
structed with buried whole tires would be difficult to ignite. struction of an experimental gravity wall in West Yorkshire
The West Yorkshire Metropolitan County Council (WYMCC (WYMCC 1977). The experimental cribwall was built to
1977) investigated the potential fire hazard of a structure provide extra valuable space for future office expansion or
constructed with whole tires. A 1 m high circular mound of car parking. The construction of the retaining wall used
tires filled with soil was built. The filling of the tires was whole tires from cars or light commercial vehicles ranging
achieved by placing the soil over the tire without compac- from R-13 to R-15 (radius of the tire rim in inches), with
tion. Attempts to ignite the tire mound were carried out us- corresponding tire widths varying from 125 to 200 mm. The
ing several different procedures. A strong wind prevailed height of the tire wall varied up to 3.7 m and incorporated a
during testing. Although the tire structures did not represent curve. The maximum length of the structure, with 4500 tires,
an actual reinforced tire wall, several important conclusions was 45 m with an average tire layer thickness of 0.15 m and
were drawn. created a useable area of approximately 100 m2. The investi-
To set a tire-embedded structure on fire, a continuous and gators observed that effective interlock at the face of the tire
intense application of heat was required (e.g., a bonfire of wall was difficult for slopes steeper than 1 to 1. To stabilize
dry timber). The use of gasoline or the application of a gas the face during construction, steel link bars 12 mm in diame-
blow torch was insufficient. The application of a gas blow ter were used for every 15 tires (not all tires were intercon-
torch produced only slight charring of the rubber and, com- nected). The cost of the experimental tire wall was estimated
pared to more conventional building materials, considerably to be approximately one-quarter the cost of a similar conven-
less damage was produced. Burning of the tires would be re- tional retaining wall.
stricted to exposed tires only and would not penetrate into Dalton and Hoban (1982) report on the construction of a
the fill. The possibility of fire hazard can be eliminated by tire wall on the west-bound exit of the M62 at Junction 26,
covering the exposed tire facing with incombustible materi- also in England, as an alternative to the traditional gabion
als such as bricks, concrete blocks, shotcrete, metal panels, wall solution. The reinforced soil structure was an anchored
gabions, or soil. Finally, hundreds of earthfills have been or tied-back tire wall. The face of the wall was constructed
successfully constructed using discarded whole tires (dis- by placing the tires tread to tread to form a single line. Al-
cussed in the next section), and none have reported problems ternate layers of face tires, at an approximate vertical dis-
with spontaneous combustion. tance of 0.3 m, were connected to a secured, anchored tire
by 1000 kg Paraweb webbing (a polymeric strap). The an-
Previous experience with tires in earthfills chor tires were positioned 3 m back and centred horizontally
The use of tire as earthfill reinforcement is not new. Many from the front line of tires. The paraweb was threaded
tire structures have been constructed in other countries, e.g., through all face tires and secured to the anchor tires at regu-
United States, Brazil, Switzerland, France, and Germany. At lar intervals. A granular backfill was used. The paraweb and
the end of 1993, over 250 tire-reinforced soil structures had tire anchors were able to prevent local failure of the tire wall
been constructed in France alone (Long 1993). Tire–soil- face by providing sufficient tensile strength. These also pro-
reinforced structures have numerous civil engineering appli- vided enough lateral restraint against wedge-type failure and
cations, including retaining walls, reinforced slopes, light- slip-circle failure within the block.
weight fill, energy dissipators, sound barriers, slope or river The first research in France on soil reinforcements using
protection, and many other potential applications. old tires was commissioned in 1976 and resulted in the sub-
One of the first reported practical applications using dis- mission of a report to the Délégation Général à la Recherche
carded tires was the repair of a hillside fill instability along Scientifique et Technique. The Laboratoire Central des Ponts
California Highway 236 north of Santa Cruz in the mid- et Chaussés conducted studies on reinforcement in the form
1970s (Forsyth and Egan 1976). After the removal of debris of whole tires, sidewalls, or treads placed on edge or cut and
and the placement of a drainage system, the road embank- laid flat (Long 1993).

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78 Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 37, 2000

The first experimental reinforced tire wall was 5 m high A large number of pull-out tests on various configurations
and 10 m long. It was constructed in 1982 at Nancy in the of tire mat assemblies were separately carried out to better
Langres region. The wall consisted of several reinforcing tire understand the design of the tire-reinforced earthfills. The
tread mats tied to flexible precast concrete facing units. Each results of these investigations and the design implications
mat was vertically spaced no more than 0.5 m apart and are presented in a companion paper (O’Shaughnessy and
back filled with a granular material. The individual tire Garga 2000a). To evaluate any toxic effects of buried tires
treads were placed edgewise and tied together with polyester on the surrounding groundwater, a drainage system was in-
straps. Since then, French engineers have constructed more stalled below the embankment and the effluent collected in
than 250 structures with tire reinforcement in France and 12 three wells. The results of the analysis of water-quality data
in Algeria up to 1993 (Long 1993). One quarter of the are also presented in another companion paper
French projects have used scrap tires for slope remediation (O’Shaughnessy and Garga 2000b).
and erosion protection. The French literature provides very
limited quantitative information, especially on the mechani-
cal behaviour and deformation characteristics of these tire Material properties
structures, and design criteria for tire-reinforced earthfills The soil material placed within the tire mat reinforcement
have not been well defined. Other applications have included is largely confined, and therefore the resistance developed
the following: construction of retaining walls; providing a between soil and tire reinforcement is primarily frictional.
light-weight ground fill that has a unit weight between 6 and Consequently, it is important to assess the material proper-
8 kN/m3, decreasing active pressures on structures; energy- ties of the backfill soil, the attachment, and interface behav-
absorption barriers for rockslides and snow avalanches; iour between the backfill and tire rubber.
sound barriers; reducing load distribution above buried cul-
verts by arching; and improving ground serviceability for Backfill soils
military vehicles. The test embankment consisted of three sections. Two
Tires could also be used as a structural medium in a num- sections consisted of a good quality backfill comprised of a
ber of ways: creating artificial islands and reefs, land terrac- cohesionless, clean sand imported to the construction site
ing, crash barriers, bridge abutments, reinforcing soil from a Ministry of Transportation of Ontario approved
foundations, sea defenses, stabilizing soil heaps, and in quarry. The third section was composed of various silty clay
many other potential applications. cuttings and discarded fill collected over time from several
construction sites in the Ottawa area. This waste material
Laboratory and field investigations was used by the test site owner as a soil barrier around his
property for several years. All soil tests were performed on
To investigate the behaviour of tire-reinforced structures, a samples compacted to their respective densities determined
prototype test embankment was constructed on a private au- from Standard Proctor tests.
tomobile parts recycling property near Ottawa. Large num-
bers of tires were already stored on the site for several years. Imported sand
This site had been operational as an automobile-recycling A summary of index and strength properties of imported
facility for considerable period of time, and was therefore sand with the corresponding testing methodology is given in
licensed by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment as an Table 1. Standard Proctor tests indicated a maximum dry
approved site for scrap tire storage. The design of the test fill density of 1845 kg/m3 at a optimum water content of 10.5%
incorporated three reinforced slope configurations, and three and a unit weight of 20 kN/m3. The sand was uniform and
tire-reinforced gravity wall sections along its two sides. In free draining, with less than 5% fines and a trace of gravel.
the reinforced slope, the tires were used either as whole The failure envelope indicates an effective internal friction
tires, or with one side wall removed. The latter is referred to angle of 42°, for an average dry density of 1790 kg/m3.
in subsequent text as a cut tire. In the reinforced slope sec-
tion, reinforcing tire mats in which the individual tires were On-site cohesive soil
tied together by polypropylene rope were placed at a vertical The index and strength properties of the on-site cohesive
spacing of 0.5 m. Each tire reinforcing mat was in-filled backfill soil are also shown in Table 1 together with the cor-
with a backfill layer of soil, approximately 0.3 m thick, and responding testing method used for their determination.
compacted. Hence, the tire layers were separated by a layer Standard Proctor compaction tests indicated a unit weight of
of compacted soil. In the construction of the retaining wall 19 kN/m3 and a maximum dry density of 1508 kg/m3 at an
section, the tire mat reinforcements were stacked on top of optimum water content of 29%. Particle-size analyses were
each other in a staggered manner. The voids within the tire- performed on three soil samples from different locations
reinforcing mat were filled with backfill soil and compacted around the site. The soil varied from a sandy silt with some
before the next tire-reinforcing layer was placed. In contrast gravel to a clayey silt with trace gravel (Unified Soil Classi-
to the reinforced slope section, only a thin layer of soil ex- fication System). Consolidated undrained (CU) direct shear
isted at the tire mat interfaces in the retaining wall section. It tests were performed on soil samples compacted at their nat-
should be noted that neither in the reinforced fill section nor ural water content. The cohesive soil samples were sheared
in the retaining wall section were the tire mats connected in at a high displacement rate of 0.6 mm/min to minimize pore-
the vertical direction. The thickness of a reinforcing tire mat water dissipation. The consolidated undrained strength pa-
composed of whole or cut passenger tires varied between rameters are an apparent angle of internal friction of 19° and
150 and 200 mm. an apparent cohesion of 68.4 kPa. The latter parameters are

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Garga and O’Shaughnessy 79

Table 1. Index and strength properties of the backfill materials.

Cohesive
Property ASTM testing procedure Sand backfill
Relative density, Dr D854-92 2.67 2.66
Unit weight, γ (kN/m3) D698-91 (Standard Proctor) 20 19
Maximum dry density, δ d (kg/m3) D698-91 1845 1508
Optimum water content, w (%) D698-91 10.50 29
Particle-size distribution (average)
Gravel (%) D422-92 5 12
Sand (%) D422-92 93 24
Silt (%) D422-92 2 55
Clay (%) D422-92 2.8 9
Uniformity coefficient, Cu D422-92 25
Average plastic limit, wP D4318-87 24.4
Average liquid limit, wL D4318-87 52.8
Average plasticity index, IP D4318-87 28.4
Unified Soil Classification System D2487-92 SP CH
MH
Strength parameters
cu (kN/m2) D3080-90 (direct shear) 68.4
φ u (°) D3080-90 19
φ ′ (°) D3080-90 42 32
Compression parameters
Ccr (consolidation) D2435-90 0.031
Cc (consolidation) D2435-90 0.108

Fig. 2. Stress–strain behaviour of polypropylene rope in terms of tests using a displacement rate of 0.00064 mm/min were
the number of wraps used. also performed on the compacted cohesive soil. The com-
pacted backfill material has a peak effective angle of inter-
nal friction of 32°. The cohesive backfill has a compression
index of 0.108 and a recompression index of 0.031. The ver-
tical coefficient of consolidation (cv) varies from 2.4 × 10–7
to 1.05 × 10–6 m2/s depending on the applied vertical effec-
tive stress.

Attachment properties of the polypropylene rope

A 9.4 mm (3/8 in.) diameter polypropylene rope was used
to tie the tire elements together to form a reinforcing mat.
The use of other types of tire attachments such as steel
clamps was not permitted under the Ontario Ministry of the
Environment and Energy (OMEE 1991) objectives for this
research. Polypropylene rope is very resistant to chemical
and biological attack and is readily available. The rope was
tested in a Tinius Olsen testing machine to determine its ten-
sile strength and modulus of elasticity. The use of several
different knots was examined to determine which type of
knot was most effective, while remaining simple to tie in the
field. A square knot was selected. The appropriate length of
rope was placed between two eye bolts in the testing ma-
chine; the two loose ends were tied together by means of the
selected knot, and pulled apart; displacements were also
measured. Testing proceeded until failure occurred. Initial
test results revealed that several wraps of the rope around the
tires would be required to provide adequate attachment
strength. Therefore, the rope was looped two and three times
around the eye bolts, tied, and tested to failure. This allowed
the evaluation of the overall strength characteristics of the
in terms of total stresses, since pore-water pressure cannot rope in terms of the number of wraps used in the test em-
be measured in direct shear tests. Consolidated drained (CD) bankment and the field pull-out tests.

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80 Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 37, 2000

Table 2. Material properties of the polypropylene rope.

No. of wraps Tu σu ε yield Elastic modulus
around the eye bolt (yield, kN) (yield, MPa) (%) (MPa)
1 11.9 83.2 36.4 242
2 21.0 73.7 21.4 318
3 29.4 68.7 20.9 319
Note: Tu ultimate tensile strength; σ u ultimate stress; ε yield strain at failure.

The stress–strain relationship for polypropylene rope in The ratio of interface friction to soil friction (δ/φ) for soils
terms of the number of wraps around the two eye bolts is ranging from sands to silts acting on various construction
shown in Fig. 2. The linear portion of each average stress– surface materials typically ranges between 0.5 and 0.8
strain curve indicates that the elastic modulus ranged from (Potyondy 1961; Yoshimi and Kishida 1981; Uesugi and
240 MPa for a single loop to 320 MPa for two to three Kishida 1986), that is
loops. The initial slack in the attachment scheme combined
with the tightening of the knot at the beginning of testing [2] µ = tan δ ≈ (0.5 to 0.8) tan φ
was responsible for the apparent nonlinearity observed at the where δ is the interface friction angle between a soil and a
initial stages. This nonlinearity was more predominant in the surface, and φ is the internal friction angle of the soil. Re-
case of a single wrap. sults from direct shear tests between various geotextiles and
A list of the strength–deformation parameters of the different cohesionless soils have demonstrated that many
9.4 mm diameter polypropylene rope as a function of the geotextiles could mobilize a high percentage of the available
number of wraps around the eye bolts is given in Table 2. soil friction, between 80 and 90% (Koerner 1994). Coeffi-
The ultimate tensile strength varied from 11.9 kN for a sin- cients of interface friction between tire rubber and soil have
gle wrap to 29.4 kN for three wraps. It was observed that the not been reported.
failure of the rope would first occur in the rupture of individ- Jewell et al. (1984) provided the following expression to
ual strands which would then lead to a progressive failure of estimate the efficiency coefficient of resistance to direct slid-
the rope. Failure of the knot or the rope near the eye bolt ing in a composite material:
was not observed. The estimated tensile strength per rope
length (the number of wraps times two) decreased with the  tan δ 
number of wraps, from 6 to 5 kN per rope length. This be- [3] α ds = 1 − f 1 − 

haviour is the result of an uneven stress distribution (each  tan φ 
wrap does not carry the same load), and therefore the ulti- where α ds is the efficiency coefficient of resistance to direct
mate tensile strength is not directly proportional to the num- sliding, φ is the angle of friction for soil in direct shear, δ is
ber of wraps, based upon a single rope element. This the interface friction for soil and the reinforcement surface,
behaviour should be considered in design when establishing and f is the fraction of the surface area of the reinforcement
the allowable tensile force of the reinforcement. In many in- to the total area of the sliding plane. In a unit area of tire re-
stances, the weakest part in the tire mat construction is the inforcement, passenger tire sidewall contributes approxi-
attachment itself (dependent on attachment type and use), mately 25% of the area (the area of contact between tire
since the ultimate tensile strength of most radial tires will rubber and soil); consequently the f factor in eq. [3] for tires
easily exceed 75 kN (Long 1993). A sudden loss of strength is approximately equal to 0.25.
due to failure of the attachment could have serious conse-
quences, since the improvement in shear strength is directly Laboratory assessment of interface behaviour
proportional to the maximum force generated within the re- The interface friction or adherence between the tire rubber
inforcing tire mat. A safety factor must be employed to pre- and the soil was determined from a simple modified shear
vent this failure mode, discussed in one of the companion box, approximately 100 mm × 100 mm. Interface tests were
papers (O’Shaughnessy and Garga 2000a). Another failure performed on both types of backfill materials used in the
mode would be the loss of adherence between the soil and prototype test fill. Three layers of soil of interest were
the tire mat reinforcement, in which case a redistribution of placed in the top half and compacted to the required density
shear stress is possible without a sudden failure of the struc- by dropping a small square rod from a constant height. A
ture. solid piece of tire sidewall rubber was secured to the bottom
half of the box. The shear load and horizontal and vertical
Interface friction deformations were monitored during the test. The test was
The shear stress τ along the soil–reinforcement interface is repeated for several different normal loads. Both undrained
given by (fast) and drained (slow) tests were performed.
[1] τ = µ σn The relationship between µ and δ can be stated by µ = tan δ.
The dry sand gave the highest interface friction coefficient,
where σn is the normal stress exerted on the reinforcement, 0.58 (δ = 30°), and the cohesive backfill under undrained
and µ is the coefficient of friction between the soil and rein- conditions had the lowest value of 0.40 (δ = 22°). The inter-
forcing material. The friction coefficient, µ, is defined by the face friction coefficient (µ ) for the sand and tire rubber falls
angle of interface friction (δ), which is usually determined within the range reported in the literature for other materials
from modified direct shear tests. such as concrete, wood, steel, and geotextiles (Potyondy

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Garga and O’Shaughnessy 81

Table 3. Summary of interface friction parameters including the direct sliding efficiency coefficient.
Shear strength Interface Friction Interface Skin Efficiency
parameter, c adhesion, angle, φ friction friction, ca/c δ /φ tan δ / coefficient of
Soil type (kPa) ca (kPa) (°) coefficient, µ δ (°) or fc or fφ tan φ resistance, α ds
Dry sand 42 0.58 30 0.71 0.64 0.91
Cohesive backfill (CU) 68.4 7.6 19 0.40 22 0.11 1.16 1.17 0.82
Cohesive backfill (CD) 32 0.49 26 0.81 0.78 0.95

1961; Yoshimi and Kishida 1981; Uesugi and Kishida 1986; Fig. 3. The interface shear strength of the backfill soils used in
Koerner 1994). Sands and gravels provide better resistance the test embankment.
to a direct sliding failure than finer grain soils. Under pres-
sure, coarser soil particles may penetrate the rubber and de-
form or “roughen” the surface which increases the sliding
resistance.
A summary of interface friction results is provided in Ta-
ble 3 and Fig. 3. The interface strength was lower than the
shear strength of the respective soils in all cases studied. It
may be more desirable to express the interface friction in
terms of the Mohr–Coulomb failure criterion, since the inter-
face shearing interaction is dependent on several factors, in-
cluding soil type and testing conditions. The interface
friction τinterface can be expressed as (Potyondy 1961)
[4] τ interface = fc c + σn tan( fφ φ)
where fc = ca/c, where ca is the interface adhesion; fφ = δ/ φ;
and c and φ are soil shear strength parameters. The parame-
ters fc and fφ for the two soils and drainage conditions deter-
mined in the current study are also given in Table 3.
The efficiency coefficient of resistance to direct sliding
(α ds) (eq. [3]) ranged from 0.82 to 0.95 (Table 3). These
high values indicate that sliding resistance of a tire mat rein-
forced structure is predominantly governed by the shear strength
characteristics of the soil used in its construction. The tire
mat reinforcement geometry is able to fully capitalize on the
shear strength provided by the soil. This characteristic of tire
mat reinforcement can allow the use of lower quality back-
fill, thus further decreasing the cost of the structure.

Embankment design and construction

The reinforced embankment was designed to use conven- tion B whole tires filled with sand, and section C cut tires
tional construction techniques and to reuse old tires with the filled with the cohesive soil.
minimum of processing to maximize economic benefits. The
test embankment was constructed over a sand drainage blan- Construction of the test embankment
ket and has a height of 4 m, with an additional 2 m high per- The field construction commenced with the levelling and
manent surcharge placed at the end of construction. The plan compaction of a 300 mm thick clean sand drainage blanket
dimensions of the test embankment are 17.4 m (width) and which included the installation of a 76 mm perforated pipe
57 m (length). The embankment geometry, tire mat layout, wrapped in a geotextile, separately under each section, for
and soil type are presented in Fig. 4. A typical cross section effluent water collection.
is given in Fig. 5. The layout of the different instruments A great number of tires stockpiled at the construction site
used to monitor the performance of the test embankment is required the removal of the inner steel rim using a derim-
also shown in Figs. 4 and 5. ming machine. The cut tires were sliced on site to remove
The reinforced earth structure for the study of both the re- one sidewall by using a specially designed, lightweight, low-
inforced slope and the retaining wall is composed of three cost, transportable machine manufactured in Ontario. This
independent 10 m long sections (A, B, and C). Each section machine performs the tire cutting by supporting the tire hori-
was reinforced with tire mats for use as a retaining wall zontally while a hydraulic jack fitted with a slicing carbon-
structure on one side and as a reinforced slope along the steel blade cuts a sidewall as the tire is rotated. A two-person
other. The three different configurations of retaining wall crew was able to slice approximately 200 tires per hour, if
and reinforced slope are as follows: section A comprised cut the tires were clean. The sliced sidewall was placed inside
tires (tires with one sidewall removed) filled with sand, sec- the cut tire to avoid generation of unnecessary waste.

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82 Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 37, 2000

Fig. 4. Plan view of the test embankment showing the geometry, tire reinforcement layout, soil type, instrumentation, and location of
the plate load tests.

The gravity retaining wall and reinforced steep slope were structed with the cohesive backfill material (retaining wall
constructed simultaneously. These two structures were built section). The final surcharge load consisted of approxi-
in the same embankment with the retaining wall and rein- mately 600 m3 of low-quality backfill, equivalent to a 2 m
forced steep slope on opposite sides. Layers of tires were height of fill, which was placed with a small excavator and
placed side by side, tied together with three turns of a 2.5 m lightly compacted. The entire embankment was hydroseeded
long, 9.5 mm diameter polypropylene rope (Fig. 6), filled at the end of the project.
with the appropriate soil, and compacted. A single person
could tie approximately 60 connections per hour. Experience Instrumentation
has shown that for large-scale production, it may be more ef- A plan view of the instrumentation layout is given in
ficient to preprepare the tied tire mats in manageable sec- Fig. 4, and the typical cross section also provides informa-
tions on a raised production platform, and then transport tion on instrumentation locations (Fig. 5). Four inclinometer
these to the embankment. casings were installed in each section, two for each retaining
The sand and cohesive backfills were spread using both wall structure and two for each reinforced slope to monitor
front-end loader and a DC-3 bulldozer (Fig. 7). It is impor- lateral movements. Deep magnetic settlement gauges were
tant to mention that the cohesive soil used was lumpy and placed in the reinforced slope and the unreinforced section
wet and would not have met the usually accepted construc- between the retaining wall and steep slope to observe settle-
tion specifications for an earthfill. Poor quality clay fills are ments. Surface topographical monuments were also installed
generally not acceptable for conventional embankment con- after the final height was reached.
struction. A photograph depicting the retaining tire walls at Experience at landfill sites indicates that it is often very
the end of construction is shown in Fig. 8. The construction difficult to drill through tires, since the steel belts and wires
was interrupted only occasionally for installation of pressure entangle with the rotating bit. Consequently, during con-
cells located behind the retaining wall and a few inclinome- struction of the fill, care was taken to ensure that no tires
ter casings. After completion of the embankment, the settle- would be located along the vertical alignment of the drill
ment gauges and the remaining inclinometer tubes were holes which would subsequently be drilled for the installa-
installed in drilled holes. Most of the instrumentation was tion of instrumentation. This was ensured by using a system
placed in the centre of each section to measure plane strain of reference guide wires to locate the preplanned drill-hole
conditions and to eliminate any edge effects. locations.
Relatively little construction equipment and work force Three pneumatic pressure cells were placed behind each
was required. The total construction of the prototype fill was of the three retaining walls at different heights to measure
completed within 2 months by a three-person crew with a the lateral stresses and to determine the lateral earth pressure
front-end loader and a self-propelled vibrating-drum roller. coefficients. Their locations are at depths of approximately
The fill was compacted by a lightweight smooth drum vi- 1.0, 2.0, and 3.75 m (height of the wall is 4 m). Each
brating roller, a Super Pac 540C model that was able to de- pneumatic pressure cell was calibrated in an air-pressure
liver a centrifugal force of 67 kN. Figure 9 shows the degree chamber. An accurate assessment of soil stresses can only be
of infilling and compaction of cut tire reinforcements con- made by first calibrating the pressure cell in an air chamber

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Garga and O’Shaughnessy 83

Fig. 5. A typical cross-sectional view of the test fill.

and then in the soil of interest subjected to known stresses. degree of compaction, based upon the Standard Proctor test
This calibration procedure provides an “action factor” for (ASTM D698) was approximately 90%.
the cell which will vary according to the soil type, porosity, The in situ density of the compacted cohesive backfill was
moisture content, particle-size distribution, particle shape, determined by pushing a calibrated hollow cylinder of
compressibility, stress ratio, and stress history in addition to known weight and dimension into the soil. The density of
the characteristics of the cell itself (Dunn and Billam 1966). the cohesive backfill exceeded the expected value evaluated
Action factors for the pressure cells installed at the back of from the Standard Proctor test. The average in situ unit
each tire retaining wall were regrettably not determined. weight of the cohesive backfill was approximately 20 kN/m3,
Therefore, the recorded stresses should be considered an ap- with a corresponding dry density of 1700 kg/m3.
proximate measurement of lateral stresses in the backfill.
Surface monuments were also installed at various loca- Tire–soil density
tions in all three sections to evaluate the overall settlement The in situ density of tire–soil material was also deter-
of the structure. These monuments were measured using an mined by means of a box arrangement during the construc-
automatic level. tion of the test embankment. The tire was placed in a large
Three large plate load tests were performed in the rein- square rigid box, open at one end, covered with the next
forced slope sections after completion of the embankment layer of soil (0.5 m), and compacted. The box was then ex-
but before the placement of the 2 m high final surcharge load. cavated from the surrounding soil, removed, and the excess
soil trimmed off. Care was taken not to disturb the soil
In situ density of backfill layers within the box. The weight of soil and tire within the box
The in situ density of the compacted sand layers was veri- was determined by suspending it by a cable from a tripod
fied by the rubber balloon method (ASTM D2167). The av- equipped with a calibrated load cell. To account for the
erage dry density of the sand sections was 1680 kg/m3. The variability in tire sizes, three boxes sizes were used. A typical

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84 Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 37, 2000

Fig. 6. Photograph showing tire mat (cut tires).

Fig. 7. General overview of the test embankment during construction.

box size was 0.71 m × 0.71 m × 0.27 m and had an average forcing mats filled with sand indicated an average total unit
volume of 0.14 m3. weight of 16 kN/m3, representing a decrease in total density
The tire–soil densities reported below are average values of about 12% compared with the in situ density of the sand.
based on a minimum of three trials. The reinforcement layer The greater decrease in density when compared with cut
comprised of cut tires filled with sand indicated an average tires filled with sand is associated with the formation of a
total unit weight of approximately 17 kN/m3. The reduction void space at the top of the tire. Compaction of whole tires,
in total density was about 5% compared with the measured which are initially partially filled with soil, results in the
in situ density of the sand layer. The small decrease in den- collapse of the sidewall, as shown in Fig. 10. The soil
sity is attributed to the lower density of the tire elements trapped within the tires is pushed farther into the tire ele-
(approx. 1100 kg/m3). Tests performed on whole tire rein- ment, resulting in the formation of a small gap. The collapse

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Garga and O’Shaughnessy 85

Fig. 8. Completion of the three retaining walls to a height of 4 m (before placement of the 2 m high surcharge).

Fig. 9. Photograph showing the degree of infilling of cut tires with the cohesive backfill after compaction (retaining wall section).

of the sidewall is beneficial because it decreases the amount This represents a 20% decrease in density when compared
of unfilled space within the tire element and produces a tire with that of the compacted cohesive backfill layer. Compres-
reinforcement of greater density. sion of the void spaces may lead to an undesirable amount
A complete infilling of the cut tire reinforcement with the of settlement. The lower unit weight of the reinforcing layer
lumpy cohesive backfill was difficult. The measured average should be considered in design when using cohesive soils or
total unit weight of 16.4 kN/m3 reflects this observation. waste materials as backfill. With the benefit of this experi-

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86 Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 37, 2000

Fig. 10. Photograph showing the collapse of the sidewall during compaction of a whole tire. Rope connection was manually exposed
and revealed no damage.

Fig. 11. General layout of the plate load test.

ence, it is recommended that cohesive soils be compacted in (1.2 m × 1.2 m) comprised two 12.7 mm thick steel plates.
smaller lifts and a that compactor with a “sheep’s foot” vi- Smaller steel plates were stacked over the large square plate
brating drum be used (a smooth vibrating drum was used on to reduce bending effects. The plate load tests were con-
this project). However, care should be exercised due to the ducted following the ASTM D1194-72 procedures. The setup
possibility of damage to the attachment, especially if the for conducting the plate load test is presented in Fig. 11. The
thickness of the cover soil is minimal. impressive supporting platform was loaded up to 40 t using
precast concrete roadway dividers and was able to apply a
Performance of the test embankment reactive stress greater than 225 kPa to the soil structure
(Fig. 12). A reference H beam attached with dial gauges and
Plate load tests simple liquid settlement transducers (manufactured in the
The bearing capacity and modulus of compressibility of University of Ottawa workshop) was used to measure the
each reinforced fill section were determined by performing plate and surrounding soil movements. The precision was
three large plate load tests. The square loading plate ±0.01 mm for the dial gauges and ±0.05 mm for the liquid
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Garga and O’Shaughnessy 87

Fig. 12. Photograph showing the loading platform for the plate load tests, viewed from the reinforced slope section.

transducers. The plate was loaded in increments ranging (kN/m2); and Crc and Cm are the recompressibility and com-
from 10 to 20 kPa; this load was maintained until settlement pressibility indices (m), respectively. The compression of
had essentially ceased. The test was terminated when the the plate and surrounding soil, plotted on a semilogarithmic
peak loading capacity of the system was reached. graph, for the plate load test performed on cut tires embed-
The load per unit area (q) versus settlement (s) relation- ded in the cohesive backfill is given in Fig. 14, and the cor-
ships for all three plate loading tests are given in Fig. 13. The responding compression parameters are given in Table 4.
ultimate bearing capacity (qult) for both sand sections could The stress imposed on the foundation was able to compress
not be determined, since qult exceeded the maximum loading the soil surface beyond a distance of 1.2 m from the edge of
capacity of the system which was approximately 240 kPa. the plate (Fig. 14).
The ultimate bearing capacity is defined as the lesser of the The higher compressibility index observed for whole tires
load that produces a settlement of 25 mm or that which re- (Cm = 0.02) compared with that for cut tires embedded in
sults in failure. The tire-reinforced soils did not fail in shear. sand (Cm = 0.01) was due to the compression of the void
Displacement in excess of 25 mm at an applied stress of spaces within the reinforcing layer. Consequently, the use of
240 kPa was observed only in the case of cohesive backfill whole tires will result in higher settlement than that for cut
(Fig. 13). It is of interest to note that even in the case of tires (double the settlement at a stress of 240 kPa). This may
whole tires in sand the test indicates that a settlement of only indicate that whole tire reinforced sections may be more
12 mm had occurred at the maximum loading of 240 kPa (a compressible than the unreinforced sections. The compress-
loading approximately equivalent to a 15 story high building). ibility index for cut tires was four times greater in the cohe-
This settlement is half of the usual criteria of 25 mm for ac- sive backfill than in the sand section. Clearly, in tire-reinforced
ceptable settlements in conventional structures. The results fills, the settlement criterion is the predominant one. The set-
also indicate that should a more stringent settlement criterion tlement of the fill is particularly significant for tire retaining
become necessary, then recourse should be made to the use of walls which are not heavily compacted; the tire wall may
cut tires. It should also be remembered that the plate loading then undergo greater vertical compression when compared
tests were carried out on top of the embankment, with the test with that of the adjacent backfill. The resulting downward
plate located only 1.8 m from the edge of the slope. movement of the tire wall relative to the backfill will gener-
The settlement of the plate can be estimated by the fol- ate negative wall friction. Hence, the active thrust will act
lowing expression: upward against the back of the tire retaining wall. The direc-
tion of the active thrust is critical for stability analysis.
q 
[5] s = C rc log q c + C m log  
 qc  Lateral stress distribution from earth pressure cells
The lateral stress distribution behind each retaining wall
where s is the settlement of the plate (m); q is the applied was directly measured by pneumatic total earth pressure cells.
load per unit area (kN/m2); qc is the compaction stress The cells used in this study were calibrated in a pressurized
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88 Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 37, 2000

Fig. 13. Measured plate settlement for the three plate load tests performed on each of the tire-reinforced sections.

Fig. 14. Compression of the plate and surrounding soil for the plate load test performed on cut tires embedded in cohesive backfill and
the corresponding compressibility indices.

Table 4. Compressibility characteristics determined from plate load tests.

Compaction stress, Recompressibility Compressibility
Section Reinforcement qc (kN/m2) index, Crc (m) index, Cm (m)
A Cut tires embedded in sand 70 8.2×10–4 0.01
B Whole tires embedded in sand 70 1.1×10–3 0.02
C Cut tires embedded in cohesive backfill 80 8.5×10–4 0.04

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Garga and O’Shaughnessy 89

Fig. 15. Lateral earth pressure coefficients behind the wall con- Fig. 16. Lateral earth pressure coefficients behind the wall con-
structed with cut tires and sand. structed with whole tires and sand.

air chamber and therefore the measurements are approxi-

mate because of the lack of an in-soil calibration. Fig. 17. Lateral earth pressure coefficients behind the wall con-
An estimate of the lateral earth pressure coefficients be- structed with cut tires and cohesive backfill.
hind tire walls constructed with the sand backfill (sections A
and B) are shown in Figs. 15 and 16, respectively. Lateral
earth pressure coefficients were also evaluated for the tire
wall constructed with the cohesive backfill (Fig. 17). Field
results are compared with both Rankine and Coulomb theo-
retical active earth pressure coefficients. Rankine determined
the state of stress for a cohesionless soil mass adjacent to a
frictionless wall. However, the development of wall friction
can significantly affect the earth pressures acting on the wall
(Quigley and Duncan 1978). Coulomb’s theory and its sub-
sequent development by others takes into account such fac-
tors as wall friction, sloping backfill, and inclination of the
wall. Results from the plate load tests and settlement mea-
surements clearly indicate that the tire retaining walls were
more compressible relative to the unreinforced backfill, thus
resulting in the development of a negative wall friction. Con-
sequently, the lateral active pressure coefficients, using Cou-
lomb’s theory, were determined for a level backfill, a wall
inclination of 80°, and a negative wall friction equal to the
backfill friction angle (δ = – φ′). The lateral earth pressure
coefficients based on Rankine theory and ignoring the devel-
opment of negative wall friction can be underestimated,
especially at large negative values of wall friction (Figs. 15–
17).
During construction, high horizontal soil stresses were de-
veloped behind each tire retaining wall. The high pressures
were attributed to the compaction process. Broms (1971)
summarized that the effect of compaction behind unyielding

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Fig. 18. Lateral displacement of the retaining wall constructed with cut tires and sand with reference to inclinometer location and time.

walls was to increase the horizontal pressures above K0 val- compacted. It was surmised that the observed distress proba-
ues within backfills behind low walls or near the surface of bly resulted from an increase in active pressure on the back
backfills behind high walls, where K0 is the coefficient of of the wall caused by downward settlement of the wall with
earth pressure at rest. K0 values for sand and cohesive back- respect to the backfill and a corresponding change in wall
fills, based on the theoretical relationship 1 – sin φ′, are 0.33 friction from a positive to a negative value. This peculiar
and 0.47, respectively. The state of stress behind each wall relative movement between wall and backfill was attributed
was well above the K0 condition. to an overload of the foundation below the heel of the wall.
Retaining walls constructed with tire mat reinforcements
filled with soil and placed in successive layers produce a
flexible structure. Tire retaining walls, unlike conventional Lateral displacement of retaining walls
concrete gravity retaining walls, are able to yield substan- The measured lateral displacements of the three tire walls
tially as to fully induce an active state of stress within the are shown in Figs. 18–20. In Figs. 18 and 19, the initial pro-
backfill adjacent to the wall. The reduction in lateral earth file of the retaining wall is outlined with a broken line in
pressure registered in the lower cells during construction is which the horizontal scale is reduced by a factor of five
attributed to the progressive yielding of the wall. After the (horizontal scale 1:5). The horizontal scale for the retaining-
final 2 m surcharge was placed, outward movement of the wall profile is reduced by a factor of three (horizontal scale
walls resulted in a substantial reduction in the horizontal soil 1:3) in Fig. 20. The lateral displacements shown in these fig-
stresses, indicating that sufficient wall yielding had occurred ures represent the actual measured horizontal movements.
to fully diminish compaction-induced stresses. Lateral earth The horizontal displacements relative to the base were minor
pressure coefficients for all three walls were reduced to val- below line A, the slope of which is equal to the internal fric-
ues between the Rankine and Coulomb theoretical coeffi- tion angle of the backfill, φ′, times the direct sliding effi-
cients. The increase in horizontal stress with time, after the ciency coefficient α ds (α ds × φ′). The results indicate that
placement of surcharge, is attributed to the development of most of the horizontal displacements occurred above this
negative wall friction. This gradual increase in the earth line. The lateral displacement in the three tire retaining walls
pressure coincided with the vertical compression of each tire arose from deformation within the tire reinforcement, defor-
wall (Fig. 21). Regrettably, the two deeper earth pressure mation of the unreinforced zone behind the wall, and move-
cells, located in sections A and B, failed after 1 year of oper- ments due to construction.
ation. The displacement ratios (defined as the maximum lateral
The progressive development of negative wall friction has displacement, ∆, divided by the wall height, H, or the height
a significant impact on the stability of a tire retaining wall at which the inclinometer tube exits the wall face) for each
and must be addressed in design. Tschebotarioff (1973) re- retaining wall are given in Table 5. The wall constructed
ported the bulging of the upper portion of a 10.2 m high, with cut tires in sand demonstrated the highest stiffness ratio
double-cell crib wall. The wall was constructed with precast (greatest resistance to horizontal movement), and the wall
concrete headers and stretchers filled with loose granular using the cohesive backfill showed the lowest stiffness ratio.
material. The sloping backfill (12°) behind the wall was The postconstruction monitoring has shown a continuous

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Garga and O’Shaughnessy 91

Fig. 19. Lateral displacement of the retaining wall constructed with whole tires and sand with reference to inclinometer location
and time.

Fig. 20. Lateral displacement of the retaining wall constructed with cut tires and cohesive backfill with reference to inclinometer loca-
tion and time.

horizontal movement with time but with a decreasing rate squeezing laterally due to the vertical compression of the
after a period of approximately 1 year. wall, and consequently the face of the wall moves outward
The tire retaining wall in section C, constructed with cut while the heel of the reinforced zone moves into the backfill.
tires in a cohesive backfill, reported the largest lateral The smallest lateral movement in the retaining wall was
displacement (395 mm after 745 days), indicating its high monitored in section A with cut tires filled with sand. The
level of flexibility. An inward movement of this tire wall recorded movement after placing the surcharge was approxi-
into the backfill below the A line is shown in Fig. 20. This mately 80 mm. The advantage of using cut tires is clearly
observation may indicate that the reinforced wall section is evident. The deformations in the sand-filled sections,

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Table 5. Normalized lateral deformations ( ∆/H, in %) from inclinometer data.

Inclinometer
Inclinometer 1.2 m behind tire wall behind tire walla
After Surcharge Surcharge + 745 days – Surcharge + 745
Section Reinforcement construction + 745 days construction movement days
A Cut tires in sand 1.2 3.5 2.3 2.7
B Whole tires in sand 1.9 5.5 3.6 2.5
C Cut tires in cohesive backfill 4.7 15.8 11.1 5.5
Note: Displacements occurring within the tire walls are defined by subtracting values in the last column from those in the second to last
column and are as follows: section A, –0.4%; section B, 1.1%; section C, 5.6%.
a
The inclinometers located behind the wall were installed after construction but before placement of the surcharge load. Hence, the
measured displacements do not include movements related to construction activities.

especially using cut tires, are similar in magnitude to those fore, the difference in the measured horizontal displacement
experienced with geosynthetic-reinforced walls (Christopher between the inclinometer located within the tire wall (1.2 m
et al. 1990). The postconstruction lateral deformations in the behind the tire wall face), minus construction movement,
cohesive soil section are large (approx. 11%). These mea- and the inclinometer located behind the tire wall
surements indicate that a more careful control of placement, (unreinforced zone) indicates postconstruction lateral defor-
water content, and degree of compaction are necessary with mation that the reinforced tire wall has undergone (Table 5).
clayey soils. The retaining wall in section A, cut tires in sand, showed
movements within the wall after 745 days (normalized lat-
Horizontal deformation due to construction eral deformation, ∆ /H = 2.3%) which were less than those
The three frontal inclinometers were installed prior to measured within the unreinforced zone by an inclinometer
construction of the retaining walls. Horizontal deformations located behind the wall (∆ /H = 2.7%). As stated earlier, cut
occurring during construction were primarily due to com- tires were able to provide strong interlocking resistance
paction of the overlying layers. The tire retaining wall con- when using a good quality backfill. This structure behaved
structed using cut tires and sand reported a normalized as an integral mass, and therefore little or no deformation
horizontal deformation (∆ /H) of about 1.2%, whereas for occurred within the reinforced tire wall.
whole tires it was approximately 1.9%. The measured normalized horizontal deformation in the
The tire wall constructed using cut tires and the cohesive reinforced section B, using whole tires and sand, after
soil showed the largest lateral movement of about 4.7%. 745 days (excluding displacements associated with construc-
This represents, on average, a threefold increase in the mea- tion) was approximately 1.1% (Table 5). Since the amount
sured horizontal deformation due to construction when com- of wall face movement was not measured, the inclinometer
pared with the other two walls. As previously mentioned, it located within the retaining wall was assumed to represent
was difficult to ensure proper infilling of the cut tires with the maximum displacement of the structure. Deformation
the cohesive backfill even after compaction, since voids were within the retaining wall represented 20% of the total mea-
still visible. The presence of voids would induce greater sured displacement. The weaker interlocking resistance gen-
deformability of the tire reinforcement fill. Also, it was erated at the interface and the presence of voids within the
found to be impractical to level off the cohesive soil surface tire reinforcing mat reduced the relative stiffness of the rein-
with the top of the tire reinforcement. This produced an un- forcement and produced higher deformations.
even interface layer of varying thickness between the differ- The normalized horizontal deformation within the rein-
ent tire reinforcing layers, and the interface strength at some forced zone of the tire wall constructed with cut tires and a
locations may be reduced. Therefore, some slippage between low-quality backfill (section C) was 5.6% (excluding con-
successive tire mat reinforcements could have occurred. struction movement). This displacement represents 35% of
Since the tire wall was constructed in successive lifts, the the total amount of movement after 745 days of monitoring.
outward movement developed in the lower reinforcing lay-
ers, over which the subsequent tire mat reinforcement was Horizontal deformation behind the tire wall (unreinforced
aligned, resulted in a change in the face angle of the wall. It zone)
is difficult to predict the magnitude of this type of construc- The measured horizontal displacements from inclinom-
tion movement. If the amount of lateral deformations is an eters installed behind the two retaining walls constructed us-
important criterion, it would be appropriate to provide a ing the sand backfill showed similar results (∆ /H = 2.7% for
larger prebatter to the retaining wall face. The amount of section A and 2.5% for section B). Movement of the unrein-
horizontal movement attributed to construction accounted forced sand backfill behind the cut tire wall (section A) ac-
for approximately 30% of the total measured displacement, counted for 77% of the total measured horizontal movement
after 745 days of monitoring. at the face of the wall. For the whole-tire retaining wall (sec-
tion B), this ratio accounted for only 45%. For the tire re-
Horizontal deformation within the tire wall taining wall in section C, deformation of the unreinforced
The inclinometer located behind the retaining wall was in- backfill accounts for 35% of the measured lateral movement
stalled after construction but before placement of the sur- at the face and represents a normalized horizontal deforma-
charge load. Hence, these measured displacements indicate tion (∆ /H) of 5.5%. This indicates a twofold increase in the
deformation only due to placement of the surcharge. There- measured horizontal deformation in the unreinforced zone
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Garga and O’Shaughnessy 93

Fig. 21. The settlement of each section measured from magnetic ever, the results strongly indicate that only cut tires should
gauges after 745 days of postconstruction surcharge. be used with cohesive backfill.
The settlement of the ground surface of the prototype em-
bankment after 745 days, on top of the permanent surcharge,
for each section is given in Fig. 22. The minimum surface
settlement was measured in section A, and the greatest in
section C. The voids within the tire-reinforced soils, particu-
larly in sections B and C, decreased with time and generated
greater vertical settlements. The reinforced slope constructed
with whole tires in sand settled, in general, approximately
30% more than the same slope constructed with cut tire rein-
forcement. It is important to note in Fig. 22 that in all cases
the retaining wall settled more than the backfill, giving rise
to possible negative wall friction. This observation is consis-
tent with measurements from earth pressure cells.

Design recommendations for tire-reinforced

retaining walls
A retaining wall constructed with tire reinforcement in
which the tire mats are stacked on top of each other is simi-
lar to a crib retaining wall. If properly designed, it should
behave as a gravity wall constructed of a “homogeneous”
composite material. The various potential failure mecha-
nisms which should be taken into account are summarized in
Fig. 23. The potential failure modes are (1) sliding of the
tire wall at the base; (2) overturning of the retaining wall, in-
cluding overturning at some elevation above the toe;
(3) bearing-capacity failure or excessive settlement of the
foundation soil; (4) deep-seated stability failure, or slip
along an internal plane of weakness; and (5) loss of service-
behind the wall with cohesive backfill when compared with
ability due to excessive deformation.
the other two walls. The lower shear strength and greater
deformability of the cohesive backfill resulted in an increase The above are conventional modes of failure and are well
in horizontal deformation of the reinforced tire wall. discussed in the geotechnical literature. Results of this study
indicate that the reinforced tire wall may be more compress-
ible than the backfill. The greater compressibility of the tire
Settlement of the test fill
The settlement of each section measured from the mag- wall relative to the backfill can generate significant negative
netic settlement gauges under a 2 m high postconstruction wall friction, and therefore must be considered in the estima-
surcharge is presented in Fig. 21. The settlement of sections tion of lateral earth pressure. Consequently, the active thrust
A and B, tire reinforcements in sand, was approximately will act upwards against the back of the tire retaining wall.
25 mm. There was no substantial difference between the As an example, Table 6 shows the different factors of
unreinforced and reinforced sand in each of these sections of safety obtained for the three retaining walls calculated using
the prototype embankment, suggesting that the unreinforced Rankine active earth pressure theory (Ka) and a trial-wedge
sand was well confined. method in which the negative wall friction (– δ) was ac-
The settlement measured in section C (Fig. 21), cut tires counted for. The interface friction angles used in the analy-
in a cohesive backfill, was greater than 200 mm. This large ses were determined from the direct shear tests. It should be
settlement arose from the difficulty in infilling of the lumpy, noted that the factors of safety using negative wall friction
wet, plastic backfill in the tires. The initial settlement of were substantially less than those obtained from the conven-
150 mm, after just 76 days, originated from the compression tional Rankine theory, which does not allow for this effect.
of the void space as a result of ongoing creep deformation of Therefore, the use of Coulomb’s theory with consideration
the structure, and consolidation of the fill is responsible for of appropriate wall friction is recommended.
the remaining settlement. The amount of settlement substan-
tially decreased approximately 1 year after completion of the Conclusions
prototype embankment. Consequently, proper compaction
during construction is important to minimize long-term set- (1) The ease of construction of the prototype embankment
tlements in cohesive backfills. If the amount of settlement is demonstrated the practical feasibility of using nonshredded
important, and the use of cohesive backfill is unavoidable, scrap tires as a soil reinforcement for both tire-reinforced
then other construction techniques could be used to reduce slopes and tire-reinforced gravity retaining walls. These struc-
the potential settlement problems, such as preloading the tures can be constructed with conventional fill-placement
structure or construction in stages. This is similar to mea- equipment. Virtually no damage was observed as the trucks
sures adopted with conventional cohesive backfills. How- and the lightweight compactors traversed over the tires.
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94 Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 37, 2000

Fig. 22. Settlement of surface monuments with time for all sections.

Fig. 23. Potential failure modes for a retaining wall constructed with tire reinforcement.

(2) Reinforced earth structures using discarded tires can negative wall friction at the back of the wall. This negative
be constructed with both cohesionless and cohesive soils. wall friction significantly increases the active pressure act-
However, it is recommended that only tires with one side- ing on the back of the wall. A reduction in the active thrust
wall removed should be used with cohesive backfills. These can be achieved by inclining the wall.
fills do require careful compaction to ensure proper infilling (4) Research indicates that the angle of inclination of the
of the tire reinforcement. retaining walls should not exceed 70° when using a low-
(3) The higher compressibility of tire retaining walls com- quality backfill which is compressible. Compaction behind
pared with the backfills may result in the development of the retaining wall should be carefully carried out to limit the

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Garga and O’Shaughnessy 95

Table 6. Estimated factors of safety for each retaining wall structure.

Factor of safety
Method Sliding Rotation Slope stability
Cut tires embedded in sand 1.8
Rankine (Ka) 3.0 3.6
Trial wedge (Ka) 1.7 2.0
Whole tires embedded in sand 1.7
Rankine (Ka) 2.9 3.5
Trial wedge (Ka)a 1.6 1.9
Cut tires embedded in cohesive backfill
During construction (undrained conditions) 1.9b 1.4b 3.5
Long term (drained conditions) 1.4
Rankine (Ka) 1.9 2.0
Trial wedge (Ka) 1.1 1.2
Minimum recommended value 1.5 2.0 1.3
a
The trial-wedge method results include the effect of negative wall friction.
b
Lateral earth pressure distribution was based upon actual measured values obtained from pressure cells
located behind the wall, just after placement of the surcharge load.

development of high lateral stresses and to reduce the out- Broms, B. 1971. Lateral earth pressures due to compaction of
ward lateral deformation. Overhang of tires must not be per- cohesionless soils. In Proceedings of the 4th Conference on Soil
mitted. Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Budapest, October
(5) The lateral deformation of the wall section constructed 1971, pp. 373–384.
with whole tires was significantly larger than that with cut Blumenthal, M. 1998. Scrap tire market development: the impact
tires (one sidewall removed). The walls with sand fill indi- of state programs. Resource Recycling, Vol. XVII, No. 3, pp. 15–19.
cated that lateral displacements using whole tires were ap- CCME. 1994. Harmonized economic instruments for used tires. Fi-
proximately 60% larger than those measured in the cut tire nal Report prepared for the Canadian Council of Ministers for
wall section. The use of cut tires and lightly compacted co- the Environment (CCME), Apogee Ref. 363 CCME, CCME-
hesive backfill resulted in a lateral movement that was 4.5 SPC-EITG-92E.
times that at the wall section with cut tires and sand. Christopher, B.R., Gill, S.A., Giroud, J.P., Juran, I., Mitchell, J.K.,
(6) Plate load tests indicate that the tire-reinforced fills Schlosser, F., and Dunnicliff, J. 1990. Design and construction
guidelines for reinforced soil structures: Vol. I. Summary of re-
can provide satisfactory foundation for medium- to light-
search: Vol. II. U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal
weight structures.
Highway Administration, Report FHWA-RD-89-043.
Dalton, D.C., and Hoban, K.M. 1982. Tyre walls in highway con-
Acknowledgements struction. Journal of the Institution of Highway Engineers, 2: 2–
9.
This research was made possible by a grant to the first au-
Drescher, A., and Newcomb, D. 1994. Development of design
thor through the Industrial Waste Diversion Program of the guidelines for use of shredded tires as a lightweight fill in road
Waste Reduction Branch, Ontario Ministry of the Environ- subgrade and retaining walls. Minnesota Department of Trans-
ment and Energy (OMEE). This research would have been portation, Report MN/RC-94/04, National Technical Informa-
impossible without the generous cooperation of Mr. Jim tion Service, Springfield, Va.
Conroy, P.Eng., owner of Conroy Auto-Parts Recycling, Dunn, C.S., and Billam, J. 1966. A study of the response character-
Cumberland, Ontario, who provided the free use of his istics of a new miniature earth pressure cell. Civil Engineering
OMEE-approved premises for test site location as well as for and Public Works Review, February, pp. 66–70.
his numerous contributions towards construction activities. Forsyth, R.A., and Egan, J.P. 1976. Use of waste materials in em-
Thanks are also expressed to Mr. Al Blank, foreman for bankment construction. Transportation Research Record 593,
Deschenes Construction (Ontario) Ltd., for his cooperation pp. 3–8.
during the construction and field testing activities, and to Hausmann, M.R. 1990. Slope remediation. In Stability and perfor-
Mr. Richard Moore, Technical Officer in the Geotechnical mance of slopes and embankments. Edited by R.B. Seed and
Laboratory at the University of Ottawa, who provided nu- R.W. Boulanger. Geotechnical Special Publication 31, Vol. 2,
merous innovative ideas towards this research. The contribu- pp. 1274–1317.
tion of Dr. Luciano Medeiros, PUCRIO, Brasil, in Humphrey, D.N. 1996. Investigation of exothermic reaction in the
formulating the research proposal and for numerous stimu- shred fill located on SR 100 in Ilwaco, Washington. Federal
lating discussions is gratefully acknowledged. Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation,
Washington, D.C.
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