Mechanical behavior modeling of sand-rubber chips mixtures using discrete element method (DEM)

Abstract

Rubber shreds in mixture with sandy soils are widely used in geotechnical purposes due to their specific controlled compressibility characteristics and light weight. Various studies have been carried out for sand or rubber chips content in order to restrain the compressibility of the mass in different structures such as backfills, road embankments, etc. Considering different rubber contents, sand-rubber mixtures can be made which lead mechanical properties of the blend to go through changes. The aim of this paper is to study the effect of adding different rubber portions on the global engineering properties of the mixtures. This study is performed by using Discrete Element Method (DEM). The simulations showed that adding rubber up to a particular fraction can improve maximum bearing stress characteristics comparing to sand alone masses. Taking the difference between sand and rubber stiffness into account, the result interpretation can be developed to other soft and rigid particle mixtures such as powders or polymers. © 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.