Car tires are a nightmare for the environment after use. By volume, by size, because burning them is very polluting and because they take hundreds of years to decompose in landfills, where most of them end up. There are options to reuse them, from crushing them to filling asphalt, building playgrounds… or build walls. Australian researchers have analyzed the structural properties of mud-filled car tire walls, giving engineers construction data to engage in this recycling.
It is not uncommon to see wheels that serve as retaining walls, stacked in staggered structures and filled with earth. The Earthship movement took this idea further, retaining walls and entire buildings from tiered walls, sometimes filling them with cement rubble or broken brick to allow for drainage, or to enhance their appearance. decorated them.
However, they are all very solid projects. Researchers from the University of South Australia decided to study them and document the results for use. Because they are no less. In Australia alone 55 million tires are thrown away every year. There is not less than 450,000 tonnes of waste that can be converted into free building material.
In the absence of reliable data or studies, engineers and architects have not opted for tire walls. “We hope this study will change that and expand the number of projects that use these walls,” said Dr Martin Freney, co-author of the new study, who put these tire walls through a complete structural analysis. “
All data indicates that tire walls can be extremely strong and safe structures. As well as being as solid as concrete or wood retaining walls, they are extremely resistant. “They have the ability to bounce back after an impact like an earthquake. And if rubble or crushed brick is used as a fill, it also provides excellent drainage, an important feature in many retaining walls.” views, while also minimizing the environmental impact of the wall,” Freney says.
The researchers hope that the data they generate, as well as related software models, will be used to create proven design guidelines and building codes that encourage this environmentally friendly but labor-intensive method of construction. The next step would be to collaborate with a company and develop a range of real applications for tire walls.
Fuente: University of South Australia
Via: Engineering Structures
