Application of Clay–rubber Mixtures for the Transportation Geotechnics—the Numerical Analysis

The use of waste materials (including rubber) in industry is one of the most important issues in terms of environmental protection. One of such applications is the use of soil–rubber mixtures in backfills or lower layers of embankments or road structures. The numerical analyses of the behavior of a clay–rubber mixture layer built into a road embankment are presented in this article. An elastic-perfectly plastic model with a Coulomb–Mohr yield surface was used in the finite element analysis. The parameters of soil–rubber mixtures adopted for the analysis were estimated on the basis of triaxial tests: monotonic (UU—unconsolidated undrained, and CU—consolidated undrained) and cyclic (CU) performed with low frequency (f = 0,001 Hz). The triaxial tests were carried out on mixtures of kaolin (K) and red clay (RC) with the addition of 1–5 mm rubber granulate (G) in the amount of 5–25% by weight. Numerical analyses included a static plate load test (VSS) of a layer made of a rubber–soil mixture built into the embankment and testing the stability of embankments using the c–ϕ strength reduction procedure. The results of laboratory tests confirm the necessity of testing soil–rubber mixtures each time before their use in embankments. The observed overall decrease in shear strength and stiffness of the tested material is variable and depends on the type of soil and the content of rubber waste. Satisfactory results of the analysis were obtained, both in terms of the values of layer stiffness modules and slope safety factors, which allows for the conclusion of the possibility of using soil–rubber mixtures (with the recommended granulate addition up to 30% by weight) in the layers of road embankments and (depending on the road class) in the lower layers of the pavement structure.