SANDCUSHION

softclaydepositsinnorthernEgyptarecharacterizedwiththeirlowbearingcapacity
andhighsettlement.Sandcushionisconsideredoneofthetechniquesusedtoimprove
theperformanceofsuchsoil.Anexperimentalplanestrainmodelofsinglestripfooting
wasconstructedtoevaluatetheperformanceoffoundationoverlyingsoftclaysoilusing
reinforcedsandcushion.Thefeasibilityofusingwastetireasanalternative
reinforcementmaterialinearthworkwasintroducedandacomparisonbetweenits
effectwiththatforpopularreinforcingmaterialssuchasgeotextileandgeogridis
presentedinthiswork.Wastetirematerialsemployedwereshredsandsheetsto
representrandomlyreinforcedandregularsheetreinforcementrespectively.The
parametersinvestigatedinthisstudyinclud,thevariationofsandcushionthickness,
positionofrandomlyreinforcedzoneanddepthofreinforcedzone.Testresults
indicatedthattheuseofwastetireasareinforcingmaterialinsandcushioninhancethe
performanceofsoftclaysoil.Theultimateloadincreasedwithincreasingthethickness
ofsandcushion.Thebeneficialeffectofrandomlyreinforcedlayerwithshredstire
decreasedwiththeincreaseofsandcushionthickness.Effectofreinforcedzone
positionsaremuchpronouncedincaseofupperthirdreinforcedzoneofsandcushion
thickness.

1.Introduction
Manydifferentimprovementtechniqueswereusedtoenhancetheperformanceof
foundationoverlyingweaksoil.Thesetechniquesincludechemicalstabilization,
compactionandreplacementofweaksoilandreinforcementwithdifferenttypesof
geosyntheticmaterialsbeneathfoundation.Theuseofreinforcedsandcushion
techniquehasbecomepopularduetotheavailabilityofdurableandstrong
reinforcementmaterialsanditisnowbecomeasuccessfulandreliabletechnique.
Severaltypesofreinforcingmaterialswereusedinsandcushiontoenhancethe
performanceoffoundationbehaviouroversoftsoil.Themaintypesofreinforcing
materialsarenatural,metallicandgeosynthetic(suchasgeotextileandgeogrid)
materials.Inmoststudiesgeosyntheticmaterialswereusedtoreinforcesandcushion.
Theuseofsuchmaterialsisamoneyconsumingandthecostoftheprojectrunshigh.
Nowadaysresearchersdirectedtheirattentiontousewastematerialsasanalternative
materialincivilengineeringapplications.Twomajorbenefitsofusingsuchmaterials
wereachieved,reducingthecostofsoilimprovementtechniquesandkeepingthe
environmentclearandsafefromthesematerials.Shreddedwastetiresarenowbeing
usedassubgradereinforcementforconstructingroadsoversoftsoils,asanadditiveto

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asphalt,asasubstituteforleachatecollectionstoneinlandfillsandassoundbarriers
[1,2].Largeearthworkprojectsusingrecycledtiressuchasthoseencounteredin
highwayconstructionareanidealapplicationforshreddedtiresbecausethereis
potentialtousevastquantitiesoftireswhileimprovingormaintainingperformanceof
theearthstructure.Anotherlargeearthworkprojectsoversoftsoilshavebeen
constructedinMinnesota52000tireshavebeenused,PennsylvaniaandVermont2700
m3oftireshavebeenused.Significantperformancehasbeendocumentedineachof
theseprojects.[3,4].AlsoEdilandBosscher[4]demonstratedthatusingwastetirein
earthworkdoesnotadverseeffectonthegroundwaterquality.
Themainobjectiveofthestudydescribedhereinistoevaluatetheperformanceof

footingoverlyingsoftclaysoilusingsandcushionreinforcedwithwastetire.The
parametersinvestigatedinclude,thevariationofsandcushionthickness,positionof
randomlyreinforcedzoneanddepthofreinforcedzone.

2.Materialsandtestingpreparation
Threedifferentmaterialswereusedinthisresearch:softclayeysoil,sandandwaste
tire.Spesificgravity,liquidlimit,plasticlimitandshrinkagelimitfortheclayeysoil
are2.74,62.4,28.1and47.39respectively.Itsspecificgravity,uniformitycoefficient,
D50andcoefficientofcurvatureare2.65,2.85,0.5mmand0.97respectively.
Maximumdrydensityandoptimummoisturecontentdeterminedfromthemodified
compactiontestwere1.81gm/cm3and9.3%.
Wastetirematerialusedinthisresearchwasaemployedintwofeatures,shredsand
sheetlayers.Unitweightofwastetirerangedfrom0.87to0.99gm/cm3andspecific
gravityisequalto1.11.Hassonaetal.[5]demonstratedthat,shredstiresizeof55mm
and3%shredstirecontentwereconsideredtheoptimumsizeandcontenttoincrease
theresistanceofsandtoexternalloads.Therefore,hereinshredssizeof55mmand
3%shredstirecontentwereadoptedtoreinforcethesandcushion.Modified
compactiontestswasconductedonsandtiremixture.Itsmaximumdrydensityand
optimummoisturecontentwerefoundtobe1.78gm/cm3and10.3%respectively.
Thecomponentsofthemodeltestsconsistsofloadingsystem,loadingfoot,
deformationmeasuringdevices,compactiontoolsandthetechniqueofsurface
deformationmeasurementswhichaswellassamplepreparationsarealldescribedin
muchdetailsbyAli[6].Sandcushionwasplacedwithdifferentthicknessof30,60,90
and120mmorinotherwords0.5B,B,1.5Band2B,whereBisthewidthofthe
loadingfoot.

4.Testingprogramme
Thetestingprogrammeofthisresearchinvolvesthedeterminationofthedifference
betweenthebehaviourofsandcushionwithandwithoutdifferentreinforcingmaterials
foridenticaltestsatvarioustestconditions.Fourseriesoflaboratorymodeltestswere
carriedouttostudythefollowingparameters:fourdifferentthicknessofsandcushion,
H=0.5B,B,1.5Band2BwhereBisthewidthoffooting,threedifferentreinforced
zonepositionswhichareupperthird,middlethirdandlowerthirdofsandcushion
thicknesssandcushion,fivedifferentreinforcedzonedepthsofupperthird,uppertwo
third,lowerthird,lowertwothirdandwholereinforceddepthofsandcushionwere
usedtostudytheeffectofreinforcedzonedepthsanditslocationrelativetosand
cushionsurface.