Investigation of the performance of lightweight fill containing EPS and waste tire

One of the problems encountered in geotechnical engineering is soft and inconsistent soils. One of the improvement methods of such soils is to reduce the loads acting on the ground by creating light fillings instead of normal ground fillings. In addition, the forces on the structure are reduced by using light fillings in the fillings of retaining structures such as retaining walls. Similarly, light embankments can be used to reduce the loads on underground structures in city centers. In this study, the geotechnical properties of the light filling material consisting of EPS (Expanded Polystyrene Foam), waste rubber, sand and cement materials as light filling material were investigated. For this, a design table was created with the Taguchi Experimental Design Method. In the designs, the ratio of cement/mixture (EPS + waste tire + sand) by weight is 8/1, 10/1, 12/1, 14/1 and 16/1. In the designs, the cement/mixture ratio was kept constant, and EPS and waste rubber in the mixture were used at rates ranging from 10% to 50%. For the whole cement/mix ratio, 5 designs and a total of 25 designs were created. Unconfined compression test, California bearing ratio (CBR), permeability test and freeze-thaw tests were performed on the prepared samples and the appropriate mixing ratio was investigated. At the end of the 28-day curing period of the 21st design, the density of 1.342 g/cm3 was found to be the highest. At the end of the 28-day curing period of the 5th pattern, the density was found to be the lowest with 0.360 g/cm3 values. As a result of the experiments, it was observed that the strength increased with the increase in the cement ratios in the mixtures, and the strength decreased as the EPS ratio increased. Considering the ratios used in this thesis, it has been understood that the waste tire in the designs is not effective in strength.