ABSTRACT

Safe and effective disposal of waste tyres have become a challenge today and as the number of waste tyres lying about increase daily and pose both environmental pollution and health problems to individuals. This strips which will in turn cause major reduction and subsequent elimination of the problem aforementioned study is aimed at evaluating the characteristics strength of soil reinforced with waste rubber tyre.

The soil samples used for this research were obtained from the University of Benin, from three different boreholes at depths of 1.0m and 1.5m each. Soil tests were carried out on the soil in its natural state which included natural moisture content, specific gravity, sieve analysis, Atterberg limit, compaction and California bearing ratio (CBR) tests. The soil samples were thereafter reinforced with the waste tyre strips of sizes 0.5cm and 0.8cm. Compaction test and CBR test were also carried out on the soil reinforced with waste rubber tyre strips.

The results from the test showed that the soil did not increase in strength but rather reduced because the value of the maximum dry density (MDD) decreased slightly with the reinforcing material from 1.67g/cm³ to 1.82g/cm³ for the unreinforced to 1.62g/cm³ to 1.73g/cm³ for the reinforced likewise the CBR results which reduced from (3.01% to 20.32%) to (1.73% to 7.68%) for the soaked and from (5.04% to 24.77%) to (6.77% to 21.55%).