Experimental study on the pullout behavior of scrap tire strips and their application as soil reinforcement

Abstract The recycling and reuse of scrap tires is a popular area of study in sustainability-driven pavement development. However, several common methods of using scrap tires cannot take advantage of their residual performance. This study examines cutting scrap tires into strips and applying them for soil reinforcement. Pullout performance is an important index for evaluating geotechnical materials’ interface characteristics, but the pullout performance of scrap tires under multi-factor conditions has not been comprehensively studied. Pullout tests for single tire strips and tire strip meshes under different normal stresses were carried out to explore their interface characteristics. The results showed that the equivalent friction angle at the tire strip-sand interface is 68.1% to 71.5% greater than the internal friction angle of sand, indicating that there is an interlocking effect between the tire strip and the sand, which mobilizes pullout resistance to external tension. The processed mesh tire strip provides greater pullout resistance due to the bearing resistance of the transverse member. Comparing the experimental values of the transverse member end resistance to the calculated values from three failure models, the experimental values fall between the calculated values for the general shear failure mode and the modified punching shear failure mode. This study suggests the feasibility of processing scrap tires into strips and applying them as soil reinforcement.