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Characterisation of an unbound granular mixture with waste tyre rubber for subballast layers

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Abstract

Scrap tyres are a solid waste material produced in large quantities. One potential way of disposal is to use rubber particles from shredded tyres as a construction material. Within this context, this paper presents a comprehensive set of laboratory and field tests carried out to evaluate the characteristics of coarse aggregates mixed with rubber particles. The main objective is to assess whether these mixes could be used to form the subballast layer in new railway lines. All the technical features usually required for subballast were tested, including degradation, bearing capacity, density, resilient modulus, etc. The results show that adding between 1 and 10 % of rubber (in weight) improves resistance to degradation. On the other hand, bearing capacity is reduced, but still well over the usual range for common subballast if the rubber content is limited to <5 %. Moreover, the extension and compaction of these mixes can be done using conventional construction equipment.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank GUEROLA for providing the soil samples from its quarry, EMRO for providing the rubber particles and Ángel Morilla Rubio, Manolo Medel Perallón and Esther Medel Colmenar for their help during the field tests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geotechnical Laboratory, Department of Geotechnical and Geological Engineering, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia (UPV), Camino de Vera, s/n, 46022, Valencia, Spain

    Carlos Hidalgo Signes

  2. Department of Transport Engineering and Infrastructure, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia (UPV), Camino de Vera, s/n, 46022, Valencia, Spain

    Pablo Martínez Fernández & Ricardo Insa Franco

  3. Roads Laboratory, Department of Transport Engineering and Infrastructure, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia (UPV), Camino de Vera, s/n, 46022, Valencia, Spain

    Elías Medel Perallón

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  1. Carlos Hidalgo Signes
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  2. Pablo Martínez Fernández
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  3. Elías Medel Perallón
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  4. Ricardo Insa Franco
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Correspondence to Ricardo Insa Franco.

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Hidalgo Signes, C., Martínez Fernández, P., Medel Perallón, E. et al. Characterisation of an unbound granular mixture with waste tyre rubber for subballast layers. Mater Struct 48, 3847–3861 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-014-0443-z

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