Researchers from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) are using tyre crumbs to protect buildings from earthquakes.
A mixture of 75% tyre crumb and 25% sand should be placed below and around a building foundation to help resist the effects of an earthquake. Using crumb rubber is also a way to ensure used tyres will be recycled.
“When rubber tyres are filled with small stones (rock aggregates), they can absorb up to 70% of the earthquake’s forces.
“Our studies show that the sand-rubber mixtures can reduce the earthquake impact by 40-50% in comparison with conventional soil fill for low to moderate rise structure,” said Anbazhagan, an assistant professor at Department of Civil Engineering at IISc, said.
Researchers found out that the mixture acts as cushions that absorb the shaking forces parallel to the ground.
Anbazhagan said that burying crumb rubber will not pollute ground water. “Evidence shows that rubber present above ground water table does not contaminate the water table. In this study, we propose a geotechnical isolation system using rubber-sand mixtures. This rests above the ground water table,” he added.