• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.443-452
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• 2024

The use of sand-tire chip mixtures in construction industry is a sustainable and environmentally friendly approach that addresses both waste tire disposal and soil improvement needs. However, the addition of tire chip particles to natural soils decreases maximum shear modulus (G_max), but increases compressibility, which can be potential drawbacks. This study examines the effect of overconsolidation stress history on the maximum shear modulus (G_max) of rigid-soft mixtures with varying size ratios (SR) and tire chip contents (TC) by measuring the wave velocity through a 1-D compression test during loading and unloading. The results demonstrate that the G_max of tested mixtures in the normally consolidated state increased with increasing SR and decreasing TC. However, the tested mixtures with a smaller SR exhibited a greater increase in G_max during unloading because of the active pore-filling behavior of the smaller rubber particles and the consequent increased connectivity between sand particles. The SR-dependent impact of the overconsolidation stress history on G_max was verified using the ratio between the swelling and compression indices. Most importantly, this study reveals that the excessive settlement and lower G_max of rigid-soft mixtures can be overcome by introducing an overconsolidated state in sand-tire chip mixtures with low TC.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.24 no.8
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• pp.125-135
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• 2008

Rigid-soft particle mixtures, which consist of sand and rubber, are investigated for the understanding of the stress-deformation and elastic moduli. Specimens are prepared with various size ratio sr between sand and rubber particles, and different volumetric sand fraction sf. Small strain shear waves are measured under $K_o$-loading condition incorporated with the stress-deformation test by using oedometer cell with bender elements. The stress-deformation and small strain shear wave characteristics of rigid-soft particle mixtures show the transition from a rigid particle behavior regime to a soft particle behavior regime under fixed size ratio. A sudden rise of $\Lambda$ factor and the maximum value of the $\zeta$ exponent in $G_{max}=\;{\Lambda}({\sigma}'_{o}/kPa)^{\zeta}$ are observed at $sf\;{\approx}\;0.4{\sim}0.6$ regardless of the size ratio sf. Transition mixture shows high sensitivity to confining stress. The volume fraction for the minimum porosity may depend on the applied stress level in the rigid-soft particle mixtures because the soft rubber particles easily distort under load. In this experimental study, the size ratio and volumetric sand fraction are the important factors which determine the behavior of rigid and soft particle mixtures.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.87-97
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• 2008

Behaviors of cemented engineered soils, composed of rigid sand particle and soft rubber particle, are investigated under $K_o$ condition. The uncemented and cemented specimens are prepared with various sand volume fractions to estimate the effect of the cementation in mixtures. The vertical deformation and elastic wave velocities with vertical stress are measured. The bender elements and PZT sensors are used to measure elastic wave velocities. After cementation, the slope of vertical strain shows bilinear and is similar to that of uncemented specimen after decementation. Normalized vertical strains can be divided into capillary force, cementation, and decementation region. The first deflection of the shear wave in near field matches the first arrival of the primary wave. The elastic wave velocities dramatically increase due to cementation hardening under the fixed vertical stress, and are almost identical with additional stress. After decementation, the elastic wave velocities increase with increase in the vertical stress. The effect of cementation hinders the typical rubber-like, sand-like, and transition behaviors observed in uncemented specimens. Different mechanism can be expected in decementation of the rigid-soft particle mixtures due to the sand fraction. a shape change of individual particles in low sand fraction specimens; a fabric change between particles in high sand fraction specimens. This study suggests that behaviors of cemented engineered soils, composed of rigid-soft particles, are distinguished due to the cementation and decementation from those of uncemented specimens.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2008.03a
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• pp.90-96
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• 2008

Engineered mixtures composed of rigid sand particles and soft rubber particles are tested to investigate their behavior with strain level. Mixtures are prepared with different volumetric sand fractions (sf) to identify response using small strain resonant column, intermediate strain oedometer, and large strain direct shear tests. The small strain shear modulus and damping ratio are determined with volumetric sand fractions. The asymmetric frequency response curve increases with decreasing sand fraction. Linear responses of shear strain and damping ratio with shear strain are observed at the mixture of sf=0.2. Vertical strain increases with decreasing sand fraction. Mixtures with $04.{\leq}sf{\leq}0.6$ show the transitional stress-deformation behavior from rubber-like to sand-like behavior. The friction angle increases with the sand fraction and no apparent peak strength is observed in mixture without sf=1.0.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.22 no.8
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• pp.129-136
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• 2006

Engineered mixtures, which consist of rigid sand particles and soft fine-grained rubber particles, are tested to characterize their small and large-strain responses. Engineered soils are prepared with different volumetric sand fraction, sf, to identify the transition from a rigid to a soft granular skeleton using wave propagation, $K_{o}-loading$, and triaxial testing. Deformation moduli at small, middle and large-strain do not change linearly with the volume fraction of rigid particles; instead, deformation moduli increase dramatically when the sand fraction exceeds a threshold value between sf=0.6 to 0.8 that marks the formation of a percolating network of stiff particles. The friction angle increases with the volume fraction of rigid particles. Conversely, the axial strain at peak strength increases with the content of soft particles, and no apparent peak strength is observed in specimens when sand fraction is less than 60%. The presence of soft particles alters the formation of force chains. While soft particles are not part of high-load carrying chains, they play the important role of preventing the buckling of stiff particle chains.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.22 no.12
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• pp.41-50
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• 2021

This study investigated the changes in engineering characteristics of sand-tire chip mixtures during repetitive loading. To quantify the changes in the maximum shear modulus according to the tire chip content in the mixtures and the particle size ratio between sand particle and tire chip, the samples were prepared with tire chip content of TC = 0, 10, 20, 40, 60, and 100%, and the particle size ratios SR were also set to be SR = 0.44, 1.27, 1.87, and 4.00. The stress of the prepared sample was applied through a pneumatic cylinder. The experiment was conducted in the order of static loading (= 50 kPa), cyclic loading (= 50-150 kPa), static loading (= 400 kPa) and unloading. The stress applied to tested mixtures was controlled by a pressure panel and a pneumatic valve by using an air compressor. The shear wave velocity was measured during static and cyclic loadings by installing bender elements at the upper and lower caps of the mold. The results demonstrated that the change in maximum shear modulus of all tested materials with varying SR during repetitive loading is the most significant when TC ~ 40%. In addition, the mixture with smaller SR at a given TC shows greater increase in maximum shear modulus during repetitive loading.