UC San Diego

Although tire-derived aggregate (TDA) has been used as an alternative backfill in geotechnical engineering applications, the interaction between TDA having large particle sizes (e.g. TDA with a maximum particle dimension of 300 mm) and reinforcing geosynthetics has not been studied. This paper presents results from pullout tests on uniaxial and biaxial geogrids embedded in Type B TDA using a new large-scale pullout device having internal areal dimensions that can accommodate TDA layers with a height up to 1470 mm. Normal stresses ranging from 10 to 60 kPa were applied to TDA layers using dead weights atop a rigid plate and the pullout force was applied via hydraulic actuators operated in displacement control to a bolted-epoxy sandwich-type grip mounted on slide bearings that permit pullout displacements of up to 810 mm. The maximum pullout force increased with normal stress, with a displacement at maximum pullout force ranging from 100 to 350 mm. Internal displacements measured using tell-tales indicate gradual mobilization with pullout force, and the TDA layers all contracted during geogrid pullout. Uniaxial and biaxial geogrids with square-shaped apertures showed higher pullout capacity than uniaxial geogrids with rectangular-shaped apertures, but they experienced combined tensile-pullout failure at higher normal stresses.