Seismic Response Characteristics of Saturated Sand

Deposits Mixed with Tire Chips

Takashi Kaneko1; Rolando P. Orense, M.ASCE2; Masayuki Hyodo3; and Norimasa Yoshimoto4
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Abstract: With the objective of better and more environmentally friendly recycling methods, many researchers are now examining the use of
scrap tires as a new geomaterial. Based on past research, it was clear that tire chips reduce the rise of excess pore-water pressure when subjected
to earthquake shaking. Based on such characteristics, online pseudodynamic response tests were conducted in this study on model grounds
consisting of either tire chip-mixed sand or alternating layers of sand and tire chips with the aim of clarifying the seismic response characteristics
of tire chips and tire chip-sand mixtures. Online testing is a method of feeding soil response characteristics directly from soil samples into a one-
dimensional modeling algorithm. The test results showed that when tire chips with low stiffness were either mixed with sand or placed as layers,
more significant damping and seismic isolation effects were observed. The presence of tire chips also reduced the accumulation of excess pore-
water pressure in the layer, preventing the occurrence of liquefaction. In addition, when tire chips are installed as layers beneath the sand, liq-
uefaction is not generated in the upper sandy layer because the amplitudes of the seismic waves are attenuated. Finally, the effectiveness of tire
chips mixed with sand increased as the mix ratio was increased. When they were installed as pure layers, tire chips were more effective when
placed at a deeper location or when the layer was thicker. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0000752. © 2013 American Society of Civil
Engineers.
CE Database subject headings: Recycling; Seismic effects; Isolation; Soil liquefaction; Dynamic tests; Tires; Saturated soils; Sand
(soil type).
Author keywords: Tire chips; Recycle; Seismic isolation; Liquefaction; Pseudodynamic test.

Introduction applications such as in road embankments (Bosscher et al. 1997) and

In Japan, about 1 million scrap tires are generated annually, and
about 88% of these are being recycled. The majority of these tires are
recycled as fuel (called thermal recycling) mainly for the cement
industry, leading to problems such as the generation of carbon di-
oxide, incineration ash, and other harmful by-products. With the
demand for recycled tires as fuel in the cement sector reaching its
peak (Tomita 2006), a decrease in the thermal recycling rate is
expected in the future. Therefore, there is a need to examine the use
of recycled scrap tires as a new geomaterial for civil engineering
applications where large quantities can be used. Scrap tires can be
cut to various sizes depending on usage, and they are classified,
according to decreasing diameter, as whole tires, tire shreds, tire
chips, and rubber powder.
In the United States, research on the effective use of scrap tires
as geometerials advanced greatly during the 1990s, with several
1
Researcher, Port and Airport Research Institute, 1-1, Nagase 3-Chome,
Yokosuka City, Kanagawa 239-0826, Japan. E-mail: kaneko-t@pari.go.jp
2 generation of the excess pore-water pressure induced by cyclic and
Associate Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Univ. of Auckland,
Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand (corresponding author).
E-mail: r.orense@auckland.ac.nz
3
Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Yamaguchi Univ., Tokiwadai
2-16-1, Ube, Yamaguchi, Japan. E-mail: hyodo@yamaguchi-u.ac.jp
4
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Yamaguchi Univ.,
Tokiwadai 2-16-1, Ube, Yamaguchi, Japan. E-mail: nyoshi@yamaguchi-
u.ac.jp
Note. This manuscript was submitted on August 23, 2011; approved on
July 10, 2012; published online on July 31, 2012. Discussion period open
until September 1, 2013; separate discussions must be submitted for in-
dividual papers. This paper is part of the Journal of Geotechnical and
Geoenvironmental Engineering, Vol. 139, No. 4, April 1, 2013. ©ASCE,
ISSN 1090-0241/2013/4-633–643/$25.00.
as lightweight backfill in retaining walls (Lee et al. 1999). Other
applications, such as leachate drainage layer material in solid waste
landfills (Edil et al. 2004), as vibration absorber in transportation
projects (Wolfe et al. 2004), and as aggregate substitute in septic
systems (Weber, 2009), have also been explored. Furthermore,
a standard has been provided on the use of old tires for engineering
works through the ASTM standards (ASTM 2008). In Japan,
technological advancements regarding the effective use of old tires
as geomaterials took off in the early 2000s, with research on their
application in stabilizing embankments (Fukutake et al. 2003), as
admixture in improving reclaimed soil through solidification
methods (Kikuchi et al. 2006), and as backfill material for caisson-
type quay walls (Hazarika et al. 2006).
Liquefaction mitigation by mixing tire chips with sand has been
a topic of interest in recent years. The authors mixed sand and tire
chips at various ratios by volume and performed undrained cyclic
and monotonic triaxial shear tests (Hyodo et al. 2007; Okamoto et al.
2008). Based on the results, the effect of tire chips in controlling the
monotonic shearing was confirmed, with the effect being more re-
markable as the tire chips content in the mixture was increased.
To reduce the seismic force that propagates into the structure,
Tsang (2008) performed numerical analysis by replacing the sand
deposit around the base of the structure with tire chip-mixed sand
with 75% tire chip content. Using the dynamic properties of gran-
ulated rubber-sand mixtures obtained by Feng and Sutter (2000),
Tsang (2008) then performed a series of numerical simulations by
changing the thickness of the mixed soil, the dynamic deformation
characteristics, the number of stories and width of the structure, and
the embedment depth. The results showed that the horizontal and
perpendicular vibrations during an earthquake were reduced by as

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 much as 60–70 and 80–90%, respectively, compared with the un-
improved ground. However, these results were achieved through
numerical analysis with assumed physical properties and were not
supplemented by experimental verification.
In addition to examining the high damping characteristics of tire
chips, the current study investigated the effectiveness of tire chips as
a method to prevent the occurrence of soil liquefaction as well as their
seismic isolation effects on saturated sand deposits during earth-
quakes. For this purpose, online pseudodynamic response tests were
performed. To clarify the most effective mixing ratio, tire chips were
mixed with sand at various proportions by volume. Moreover, al-
ternating layers of pure tire chips and pure sand with various strat-
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ifications and thicknesses were also examined to investigate the best

arrangement of soil layers from the seismic isolation perspective.
Online testing is a method of modeling earthquake effects by
obtaining soil response characteristics directly from soil samples Fig. 1. Outline of pseudodynamic response test
rather than through multiparameter constitutive models. This is
done by applying a known displacement to a sample and measuring
the resulting restoring force which is then fed back into the mod-
eling algorithm. Online testing as a one-dimensional method has
limitations in its application to practical problems. However, the
accuracy of the analysis is not problematic when compared with
conventional numerical procedures.

Online Pseudodynamic Response Tests

Basic Concept
The principle of the online pseudodynamic response test is shown in
Fig. 1. The test, which consists of conducting both laboratory ele-
ment tests and seismic response analysis, involves the following
steps. First, the level ground to be analyzed is converted into a
series of lumped mass models subjected to earthquake motion at the
base, as depicted in Fig. 2. The lumped mass model is a relatively
straightforward technique for one-dimensional effective stress
analysis of the ground. Next, the dynamic response of the mass
system is solved for each time step using a computer to determine the
displacement response of each mass. Each displacement obtained
from the analysis is converted to shear strain, which is then used to
load the appropriate specimen in the element tests. The restoring
forces for all test specimens from the simple shear tests are then fed
back to the response analysis for the next time step. The process is
repeated for as long as the earthquake motion continues to directly
determine the constantly changing nonlinear restoring force of the
ground from the element tests, thereby reproducing the actual behavior
of the ground during the earthquake. In the tests, only the ground
elements that were likely to be prone to liquefaction and excessive
deformation were tested to determine the restoring force; these were
referred to as the online layer. The restoring forces of the other layers
were estimated numerically by introducing analytical layers. More
detailed discussions of online testing are given by Kusakabe et al.
(1990) and Takahashi et al. (2006).
The element experiments were conducted using the simple shear
test apparatus, which was initially developed by Kusakabe et al.
(1999). Shearing was carried out under undrained conditions as-
suming zero vertical, lateral, and volumetric strains. The loads
were applied using stepping motors with a maximum strain rate of
0.3%/min. Although this was far less than real-time rates, it is
commonly accepted that the liquefaction and cyclic mobility of sands
is dependent on the number of cycles and level of normalized shear
stress and independent of frequency (Ishihara 1993). A harmonic-type
alternating current servomotor provided high precision for dis-
placement control. Shear strain was measured by a noncontact-type
Fig. 2. One-dimensional model of ground analyzed
displacement transducer, while the total axial stress and the shear
stress on the specimen were measured using a two-directional load
cell. The effective horizontal confining pressure on the specimen
was measured by a differential pressure transducer. A 14-bit analog-
to-digital converter was used for data acquisition.
The online testing method has several advantages in analyzing the
one-dimensional seismic response of the ground when compared, for
example, to 1g dynamic model testing. Aside from taking into account
the scale effects on liquefaction and the easy application of actual
earthquake records, online testing combines the best features of both
laboratory element testing and numerical algorithms to determine the
soil response characteristics directly from soil samples. The online test
apparatus has been extensively used and validated in the analysis of
offshore structures resting on sand seabeds under ice and seismic loads
(Hyodo et al. 2001) and of stratified level grounds consisting of sand
and clay layers (Takahashi et al. 2003; Yoshimoto et al. 2004).
Sample and Specimen Preparation
In the current study, tire chips, Soma silica sand, and mixtures of these
two materials were used. The tire chips were made out of scrap tires,
with metals and fibers removed beforehand, by cutting them into
smaller pieces with a machine such that the particle diameter was less
than 1 mm. The physical properties of each material are shown in
Fig. 3, where Gs is the specific gravity; emax and emin are the maximum
and minimum void ratios, respectively; d50 is the mean grain size of
the particle; and Uc is the coefficient of uniformity. The density of the
tire chips was 1.15 g/cm3, which is relatively light compared with

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 conventional geomaterials, and represented only 40% of the particle
density of the Soma silica sand. As indicated in the inset to Fig. 3, the
soil mixtures were produced using the ratios of sand to tire chip of 7:3
and 5:5 by volume. For these soils, the dry weight ratios of sand to tire
chips were 84:16 and 70:30, respectively. Fig. 3 also illustrates the
grain-size distribution curves of the four materials, with the percent
finer by weight in the vertical axis. It can be seen that because of the
lightweight nature of tire chips the grain-size characteristics of the
sand-tire chip mixtures are similar to those of the pure sand.
The test specimens were prepared through a moist tamping method.
First, the tire chips were washed with a detergent to remove impurities
that adhere to their surfaces and then exposed to warm air to dry for
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density of 50% for a pure Soma silica sand specimen. This density of
pure-sand samples was arbitrarily selected because it was best to
have a loose liquefiable sand deposit as a reference for comparison.
Compared with other parameters such as the relative density, void
ratio, or degree of compaction, it was deemed that similar com-
paction energy was a better reference parameter when comparing
various soil mixtures (Hyodo et al. 2006; Kim et al. 2006).
Test Condition
In the current study, the online computer model considered a 14-m-
thick level ground with the water table located 2 m below the ground

several days. The dried tire chips were mixed with dry Soma silica sand
at a prescribed ratio by volume. Water was added to the mixture to
obtain a sample with initial water content of w 5 10%, after which the
mixture was mixed thoroughly to obtain a uniform sample. Next,
a rubber membrane was fixed into the pedestal of the simple shear test
device and a mold measuring 4 cm in height and 6 cm in diameter was
mounted. The test specimen was prepared by placing the soil mixture
into the mold in two layers, with each layer tamped by dropping
a rammer from a prescribed height to control the compaction energy,
Ec , which is given by the following equation:
WR × H × NL × NB
Ec ¼
V indicates the type of soil in an online layer, with S and T designating
where WR 5 weight of the rammer (0.00116 kN), H 5 drop height
(0.1844 m), NL 5 number of layers (52), NB 5 number of blows per
layer (22), and V 5 volume of the mold (m3). The compaction
energy in the test was defined such that it would result in a relative
Fig. 3. Grain-size distribution curves of the materials used
surface. The ground was then divided into seven layers of 2-m thick-
ness, each of which was replaced by a lumped mass (m1 2m7 ), to form
a one-dimensional multimass system model, as shown in Fig. 2. As
a result, it was assumed that the shear strain developed in the 2-m-thick
layer was the average value for that layer. This assumption may be
reasonable considering the layer was homogenous. In the online
pseudodynamic response tests Layers L2–L7 (shown in Table 1) were
the online layers, at which the element tests were performed. These are
the ground elements that are likely to be prone to liquefaction and
excessive deformation and they were tested to determine the restoring
force. At these layers, the tire chip content, stratification, and layer
ð1Þ thickness were changed. The test case designation referred to in Table 1
sand and tire chips, respectively.
The top-most unsaturated layer was numerically modeled (hence,
it is referred to as the analytical layer) using the modified Ramberg-
Osgood (R-O) model (Desai et al. 1985). The modified R-O model
can simulate loading, unloading, and reloading behavior and requires
four parameters that can be adjusted to achieve a best fit of the stress-
strain relationship to the experimental data. These parameters are the
initial shear modulus, G0 , the shear strength, t f , and the material
parameters a and b, which describe the hardening behavior of the
material. The required parameters for this layer are also shown in
Table 1, where gt is the total unit weight. These parameters were
assumed to be similar to the ground data at Port Island in Kobe, Japan
(Yamaguchi 2001).
The seismic record obtained by deconvolution from the recorded
waveform at the ground surface observed at Hachinohe Port in Japan
during the 1968 Tokachi-oki earthquake (M7.9) was used as the input
wave, with a predominant frequency of 0.4 Hz [see the bottom por-
tions of Figs. 7(a–d)]. This waveform is popularly used as the input
motion in the base layer when analyzing the seismic response of
coastal regions in Japan [Port and Harbour Research Institute (PHRI)
1997]. Thus, it is tacitly assumed that the base of the model ground is
bedrock. The maximum value of the acceleration was adjusted to 500
cm/s2 to ensure that excess pore-water pressure would be generated in
the saturated sand layers. Before conducting the online test, the initial
effective vertical and horizontal stresses at each online layer were

Table 1. Experimental Condition for Each Test Case

Test case
Layer SSS S:T 5 7:3 S:T 5 5:5 TTT TSS STS SST2m SST4m SST6m
L1 Unsaturated analytical soil (g t 5 17:64 kN/m , G0 5 52 MPa, t f 5 12 kPa, a 5 2:31, b 5 2:21)
3

L2 Sand TC (30%) TC (50%) TC TC Sand Sand Sand Sand

L3 Sand TC (30%) TC (50%) TC TC Sand Sand Sand Sand
L4 Sand TC (30%) TC (50%) TC Sand TC Sand Sand Sand
L5 Sand TC (30%) TC (50%) TC Sand TC Sand Sand TC
L6 Sand TC (30%) TC (50%) TC Sand Sand Sand TC TC
L7 Sand TC (30%) TC (50%) TC Sand Sand TC TC TC
Note: TC 5 tire chip. The percentage inside the parenthesis corresponds to the tire chip content; i.e., the ratio of tire chips to sand in the soil mixture by volume.

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 applied to the corresponding specimen in the simple shear test device,
assuming a coefficient of lateral earth pressure of K0 5 0:5.
Effect of the Mix Ratio on the Soil Mixture Response
In this section, the seismic response of the ground consisting of the
sand-tire chip mixture is examined. The tire chip contents were
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Fig. 4. Excess pore-water pressure time histories (tire chip-mixed
sand): (a) pure sand, SSS; (b) 70% sand and 30% tire chips, S:T:7:3; (c)
50% sand and 50% tire chips, S:T 5 5:5; (d) pure tire chips, TTT
Fig. 5. Effective stress paths (tire chip-mixed sand): (a) pure sand, SSS; (b) 70% sand and 30% tire chips, S:T:7:3; (c) 50% sand and 50% tire chips,
S:T 5 5:5; (d) pure tire chips, TTT
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assumed to be 0, 30, 50, and 100% as shown in Table 1, and Test
Cases SSS, S:T 5 7:3, S:T 5 5:5, and TTT are compared.
Effective Stress Path and Shear Stress-Shear
Strain Relationship
The time histories of the excess pore-water pressure ratios and the
effective stress paths for Layers L3, L5, and L7 for the case of all
layers of pure sand (SSS), all layers of mixed soil with 30% tire chips
(S:T 5 7:3), all layers of mixed soil with 50% tire chips (S:T 5 5:5),
and all layers of pure tire chips (TTT) are shown in Figs. 4 and 5.
Here, the ratio is defined as ru 5 u=s0v0 , where u is the excess pore-
water pressure and s0v0 is the initial effective vertical stress. It can be
seen that in the SSS case of pure sand layers, the excess pore-water
pressure ratio increases significantly at around 3–5 s when the
amplitude of shaking is largest; afterward, it approaches a more or
less constant value. This is manifested in terms of a large reduction in
the effective stress in all layers, especially in Layer L3 where the
excess pore-water pressure ratio rises up to 0.67. For grounds
consisting of sand-tire chip mixtures, the increase in the pore-water
pressure ratio during the period of significant shaking is less than that
observed for the pure sand case. However, because of the smaller
initial vertical stresses resulting from the inclusion of lighter tire
chips (the s0v values are indicated for each layer in Fig. 5), the de-
crease in effective stress appears to be larger during this period when
compared with the all-sand SSS case. At the latter stages when the
shaking amplitude was small, the maximum excess pore-water
pressure ratio approached a constant value and the reduction in
effective stress decreased. For the model grounds with tire chips
mixed with sand, there was no significant difference between the
pore-water pressure responses of Layers L3, L5, and L7; however,
the maximum value of u/s0v0 decreased with the increase in the
volume of the tire chips mixed with sand. For the case of 50% tire
chips (S:T 5 5:5), the reduction in effective stress was controlled,
with the excess pore-water pressure ratio in all layers reaching about
0.3. Moreover, a decrease in the effective stress hardly occurred in
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Fig. 6. Stress-strain relationships (tire chip-mixed sand): (a) pure sand, SSS; (b) 70% sand and 30% tire chips, S:T:7:3; (c) 50% sand and 50% tire chips,
S:T 5 5:5; (d) pure tire chips, TTT
the case of the all-tire chip layers (TTT), with the excess pore-water
pressure ratio rising to only about 0.1.
The observed behavior can be further elucidated by comparing
the shear stress-shear strain relationships for similar layers in all
test cases, as shown in Fig. 6. For the ground with pure sand layers
(SSS), the stress-strain relationship showed a stiffer initial response
(represented by the slope of the curve), and as the strain level in-
creased the hysteresis loops became larger, indicating an increase in
damping. On the other hand, the ground with layers of pure tire chips
(TTT) showed a generally linear response even at large strain, in-
dicative of the elastic behavior of the material. The pure tire chip
layers showed practically no damping; however, the stiffness of the
layer was several times smaller than that of pure sand. For the model
grounds with a mixture of tire chips and sand, the stiffness and the
damping of the layer appeared to decrease as the proportion of tire
chips increased, accompanied by a change in the hysteresis loop to
a more regular one.
Focusing on the behavior of the model ground consisting of pure
tire chips layers (TTT), excess pore-water pressure was hardly gen-
erated during the shaking. This can be attributed to the elastic property
of the material, as well as its highly deformable (low stiffness) nature.
During shaking, instead of transferring the load from the chips to the
pore water, instead the tire chips deform—as a result, high excess
pore-water pressure was not generated. Moreover, the lightweight
nature of the tire chips minimized the inertial forces acting on each
layer, leading to smaller values of shear stresses on the layers. As the
volume of the tire chips in the soil mixture decreased the properties of
the sand dominated, especially the higher initial stiffness and the larger
damping at high strain levels.
Response Acceleration Time Histories
Fig. 7 shows the time histories of the response acceleration of masses
m1 , m3 , m5 , and m7 for all four cases. It is seen that the largest
response acceleration of the model ground occurred in the case of
the all-sand layers (SSS), while the smallest response occurred in the
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all-tire chip layers (TTT). When the tire chips were mixed with the
sand, attenuation and lengthening of the period of acceleration were
observed, especially in the masses positioned toward the ground
surface. This was generally a result of the decrease in stiffness of the
ground when the tire chips were added, which inhibited the prop-
agation of the earthquake motion to the upper layers. Moreover,
because the tire chips were lighter, lower inertial effects may have
also contributed to the observed response. Such lengthening of the
period was strongly demonstrated when the tire chip content was
higher when the stiffness reduction of the ground while the inertial
effect was larger. For the case of pure tire chips (TTT), the maximum
value of the acceleration at the ground surface decreased to about one-
third of that for the all-sand (SSS) case.
With the inclusion of tire chips in the sand layer there is a change
in the natural period of the ground consisting of the sand-tire chip
mixture, and therefore the ground may behave differently when
subjected to an input motion (with various frequency characteristics)
other than that used in the present online tests. Nevertheless, with the
results presented here, it is clear that when tire chips with low
stiffness and lighter weight are mixed with sand, a reduction occurs
in the excess pore-water pressure generated and a significant seismic
isolation effect is observed.
Acceleration Fourier Spectra
The Fourier spectra of accelerations computed for masses
m1 , m3 , m5 , and m7 for all four cases are shown in Fig. 8. Although
a significant difference could not be seen for mass m7 in all test cases,
a significant increase was observed in the Fourier amplitude for
masses m5 2m1 in the case of the all-sand layers (SSS) at a frequency
of around 1 Hz, with the predominant frequency appearing at around
1 Hz. As previously mentioned, the predominant frequency of the
input wave (Hachinohe wave) was around 0.4 Hz. Mass m7 was near
the base of the model where the input motion was applied, and this
boundary corresponds to a forced vibration. Consequently, it was
expected that less variation of the maximum amplitude in the bottom
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Fig. 7. Acceleration time histories (tire chip-mixed sand): (a) pure sand, SSS; (b) 70% sand and 30% tire chips, S:T:7:3; (c) 50% sand and 50% tire
chips, S:T 5 5:5; (d) pure tire chips, TTT
Fig. 8. Acceleration Fourier spectra (tire chip-mixed sand): (a) pure
sand, SSS; (b) 70% sand and 30% tire chips, S:T:7:3; (c) 50% sand and
50% tire chips, S:T 5 5:5; (d) pure tire chips, TTT
layer would be observed among all models run. On the other hand,
for cases where tire chips were mixed with sand, there was a decrease
in amplitude at a frequency of around 1 Hz, and filtering of the high-
frequency components of the seismic waves was clearly observed.
The tendency to lengthen the period became more significant as the
tire chip content was increased; for the all-tire chips (TTT) case, the
short period components were almost lost while the amplitude at the
predominant frequency also decreased. The results can be inter-
preted to show that tire chips have a damping effect on the overall
response of the mixtures. As the proportion of tire chips was
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increased, the high-frequency components (i.e., .5 Hz) were fil-
tered with a corresponding decrease in the Fourier amplitude.
Distribution of Maximum Response with Depth
The distributions of the maximum response acceleration, maximum
excess pore-water pressure ratio, and maximum response horizontal
displacement with depth are illustrated in Fig. 9. The maximum
response acceleration for the case of 30% tire chips was remarkably
reduced, while the pure tire chip layers (TTT) showed the largest
attenuation of acceleration as the seismic wave propagated toward
the ground surface. The maximum excess pore-water pressure ratio
for the all-sand (SSS) case was raised up to about 0.67 at the shallow
layers (L2 and L3). In comparison, the values at the shallow layers
for the case of mixed soil with 30% tire chips (S:T 5 7:3) were
relatively small, although at the intermediate and deep layers (L4–
L7), there was not much difference. When the mix ratio was 50%
(S:T 5 5:5), the maximum excess pore-water pressure ratio was
reduced to about 0.3, demonstrating the effectiveness of tire chips in
preventing the occurrence of liquefaction. In addition, the pore-
water pressure ratio was further reduced to only 0.1 in the case of all-
tire chips (TTT) ground.
In terms of horizontal displacement, a tendency to increase in
amplitude toward the surface was observed in all cases. Moreover,
because the stiffness decreased with increasing tire chip content, the
displacement amplitude also tended to increase with the amount of
tire chips in the ground. With the limitation in the number of testing
devices available for the online testing, the thickness assumed for
each layer was rather thick (2 m); therefore, the strains that were
calculated within each layer represented the average strains, which
may be reasonable considering that the layers were homogenous.
As the plot of maximum displacement response indicates (Fig. 9),
layers with similar materials show similar strains, validating the
previous assumption.
Effect of Stratification and Layer Thickness
The effect of the stratification (layer arrangement) and layer thickness
on the seismic response of ground with alternating layers of sand and
tire chips were investigated. To examine the effect of layer arrange-
ment, the cases of pure tire chips were assumed for the shallow layers
(L2 and L3), intermediate layers (L4 and L5), and deep layers (L6 and
L7), as shown in Table 1. Moreover, to investigate the effect of layer
thickness, a layer of pure tire chips was placed at the bottom of the
 Fig. 9. Distribution of the maximum response with depth (tire chip-mixed sand)
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model deposit with the thickness varying from 2 to 6 m. For com-

parison purposes, the results of the cases with the all-sand layers (SSS)
and all-tire chip layers (TTT) were also used. In Table 1, the number
following the case designation SST corresponds to the thickness of
the tire chip layer at the bottom of the profile.

Effective Stress Path and Shear Stress-Shear

Strain Relationship
Fig. 10 shows the excess pore-water pressure time histories while
Fig. 11 illustrates the effective stress paths for Layers L3, L5, and L7
for the profiles with tire chips at shallow depth (Layers L2 and L3;
referred to as the TSS case) and for profiles with tire chips at the
bottom, with thicknesses of 2, 4, and 6 m (Cases SST2m, SST4m,
and SST6m, respectively). The generation of excess pore-water
pressure and the stress paths for the sand layers in Layers L5 and L7
in the TSS case was similar to the corresponding layers of the all-
sand SSS case, with a significant development of excess pore
pressure and reduction in effective stress following the main shock
of the input motion. On the other hand, when the tire chips were
placed at the bottom of the soil profile it was observed that for all
cases excess pore-water pressures were hardly generated. This
resulted in the restrained reduction in the effective stress within the
tire chip layer, while no significant decrease in the effective stress
occurred in the overlying sand layer. As previously mentioned, the Fig. 10. Excess pore-water pressure time histories (stratified ground):
highly deformable nature of tire chips prevented the generation of (a) tire chips at shallow depth, TSS; (b) 2-m-thick tire chip layer at
excess pore-water pressure during shaking, illustrating its effec- bottom, SST2m; (c) 4-m-thick tire chip layer at bottom, SST4m; (d) 6-m-
tiveness in preventing the occurrence of liquefaction. thick tire chip layer at bottom, SST6m
The shear stress-shear strain relationships for the same layers are
shown in Fig. 12, in which it is shown that large shear strain in the
range of about 3% occurred in the tire chip layer in all the test cases. bottom of the deposit. As shown in Fig. 8, this is a result of the short
However, it is clear that shear strain at the upper sand layer hardly period components of the input motion being amplified in the sand
developed when there were layers of tire chips placed at the bottom layer, and therefore such amplification is larger when the thickness of
of the ground profile. Thus, because of its low stiffness, the tire chips the sand layer below the tire chip layer is greater. Moreover, the
at the bottom layers inhibited the seismic wave as it propagated tendency to attenuate and for the period to elongate decreased at each
upward, effectively filtering the motion and resulting in practically layer as the thickness became greater when the thickness of the tire
no shearing at the sand layer on top of the ground. This effect was chip layer was changed; however, the thicker layer of tire chips
more significant when the tire chip layer at the bottom of the deposit resulted in smaller acceleration at the ground surface. Thus, the
was thicker. seismic isolation effect of the tire chips was very pronounced.

Response Acceleration Time Histories Acceleration Fourier Spectra

The response acceleration time histories for some masses in the
model grounds with tire chips at shallow depth (TSS case) and for
grounds with tire chips at the bottom with thicknesses of 2, 4, and 6 m
(Cases SST2m, SST4m, and SST6m, respectively) are shown in
Fig. 13. In each test case, remarkable attenuation and period elon-
gation of the seismic wave were observed in the tire chip layers. Based
on the comparison of the TSS and SST4m cases, such a tendency was
much more pronounced when the tire chip layer was placed at the
A comparison of the corresponding acceleration Fourier spectra for
masses m1 , m3 , m5 , and m7 is shown in Fig. 14. From the data
corresponding to mass m1 , in all test cases, a decrease in the am-
plitude was observed at frequencies greater than 1 Hz and the period
of the seismic wave was elongated at the ground surface. In the TSS
case, an increase in the amplitude at about 3 Hz was observed for
masses m7 2m5 . Comparing the amplitude at frequencies greater
than 1 Hz with the case of the tire chips being placed at the bottom

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Fig. 11. Effective stress paths (stratified ground): (a) tire chips at shallow depth, TSS; (b) 2-m-thick tire chip layer at bottom, SST2m; (c) 4-m-thick tire
chip layer at bottom, SST4m; (d) 6-m-thick tire chip layer at bottom, SST6m

Fig. 12. Stress-strain relationships (stratified ground): (a) tire chips at shallow depth, TSS; (b) 2-m-thick tire chip layer at bottom, SST2m; (c) 4-m-thick
tire chip layer at bottom, SST4m; (d) 6-m-thick tire chip layer at bottom, SST6m

of the deposit, a large difference was not observed for masses
m1 , m3 , and m5 ; although for mass m7 the amplitude was small
when the tire chip layer was thin. In addition, for frequencies less
than 1 Hz, the amplitude increased when the tire chip layer was thin.
The amplitude at the predominant frequency decreased as the po-
sition of the tire chip layer was deeper or when its thickness was
greater. Based on Figs. 8 and 14, it is seen that the predominant
frequency for the all-sand layer case (SSS) is 1.0 Hz while it is 0.4 Hz
for the other test cases, demonstrating the aseismic effects of tire
chips on sandy model ground. In addition, when the layers of pure
tire chips were installed at the bottom portion of the deposit, the
damping effect appeared to be more significant than when mixing the
same amount of tire chips to the sandy deposit to produce layers of
sand-tire chip mixtures.
These results also show that a tire chip layer underlying a saturated
sand layer attenuates the high-frequency components of the seismic
motion; however, such an effect cannot be expected for lower-frequency
components. Kazama et al. (1997) investigated the effects of soft

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Downloaded from ascelibrary.org by Indian Inst Of Technology - Chennai on 09/03/16. Copyright ASCE. For personal use only; all rights reserved.
Fig. 13. Acceleration time histories (stratified ground): (a) tire chips at shallow depth, TSS; (b) 2-m-thick tire chip layer at bottom, SST2m; (c) 4-m-
thick tire chip layer at bottom, SST4m; (d) 6-m-thick tire chip layer at bottom, SST6m
Fig. 14. Acceleration Fourier spectra (stratified ground): (a) tire chips
at shallow depth, TSS; (b) 2-m-thick tire chip layer at bottom, SST2m;
(c) 4-m-thick tire chip layer at bottom, SST4m; (d) 6-m-thick tire chip
layer at bottom, SST6m
ground on the ground surface response in relation to ground con-
ditions and showed that a soft layer underlying the surface layer
reduced the maximum response acceleration of the surface when the
soft layer became plastic but did not affect the long period com-
ponents. These results more or less supported their observation.
Distribution of Maximum Response with Depth
The variations with the depth of the maximum response acceleration,
maximum excess pore-water pressure ratio, and maximum response
horizontal displacement are depicted in Fig. 15. The maximum
JOURNAL OF GEOTECHNICAL AND GEOENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING © ASCE / APRIL 2013 / 641
J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 2013, 139(4): 633-643
response acceleration attenuated significantly in the tire chip layer, and
the corresponding acceleration at the ground surface became smaller
as the position of the tire chip layer became deeper or when the
thickness of the tire chip layer became larger. The maximum excess
pore-water pressure ratio in the tire chip layer not only became re-
markably small, but a similar trend was also observed regarding the
pore pressure ratio at the layer of sand located above the tire chip layer.
This is thought to be a result of the remarkable attenuation of the
seismic wave in the highly deformable tire chip layer. The pore-water
pressure ratio at the sand layer below the tire chip layer was generally
similar to the all-sand layer case (SSS). Moreover, it was observed that
when the tire chip layers were positioned at a deeper location, the
variation in the excess pore-water pressure ratio was almost the same
as that in case of all-tire chip layer (TTT). The maximum horizontal
displacement changed remarkably depending on the tire chip layer.
This was a result of the shear strain being concentrated only within the
tire chip layer with low stiffness. The maximum displacement at the
ground surface seemed to decrease when the tire chip was positioned
at a shallower depth, although the difference was not that significant.
Moreover, when the thickness of the tire chip layer at the bottom part
of the ground was changed, the displacement seemed to increase with
the layer thickness.
Implication to Real Problems
Online testing was used in this study to investigate the effectiveness of
combining tire chips with sands, either by mixing or by placing them
in layers as a liquefaction countermeasure. Although online testing as
a one-dimensional method has limitations in its application to prac-
tical problems, it can model earthquake effects by obtaining the soil
response characteristics directly from soil samples. Because of this,
the method is one step ahead of conventional one-dimensional non-
linear effective stress analyses typically used in liquefaction po-
tential evaluation (e.g., Finn et al. 1977; Ishihara and Towhata
1982) that make use of multiparameter constitutive models.
Tire chips as a liquefaction countermeasure may be best suited for
coastal areas where the ground can be substituted. Because of the one-
dimensional nature of the analysis, the results of the tests are valid for
level horizontal grounds. Thus, although tire chips can be placed
underneath structures of finite width, the results presented herein are
not directly applicable to analyzing the structure’s response.
Although lateral displacements have been investigated here,
settlement issues—especially static settlements—may pose some
problems in the adoption of tire chips because of their highly
compressible nature. However, once the tire chips are placed at
 Fig. 15. Distribution of the maximum response with depth (stratified ground)
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designated elevations and the overburdened soil is placed on top
of the tire layers, static settlements would immediately occur, the
magnitude of which can be easily accounted for in the design. If
a structure is placed on top of it in the future, additional settlements
can again be incorporated in the design of such a structure. On the
other hand, postliquefaction settlements are estimated to be small
because the excess pore-water pressure generated in the tire chip
layers is small, as indicated by the test results.
As shown by the online test results, large displacements (in the
order of several tens of centimeters) were observed in the tire chip
layer as a result of its low stiffness. This was because the online tests
were implemented under a one-dimensional seismic response con-
dition. In real ground, materials other than tire chips are present at
the site (e.g., the surrounding soil that is not replaced), and therefore
it is expected that the displacement will be significantly less. Thus, to
consider a more effective use of tire chips in real ground, it may be
necessary to conduct an evaluation from a two-dimensional or even
three-dimensional perspective.
Conclusions
In this study the seismic response characteristics of tire chips, tire
chip-sand mixtures, and alternating layers of tire chips and sands
were investigated using online seismic response tests. The major
findings obtained in the study are as follows:
1. In the all-sand deposit, the effective stress decreased as a result
of the generation of excess pore-water pressure and the de-
crease in stiffness of the soil, resulting in attenuation and
elongation of the period of the seismic wave toward the ground
surface. When highly deformable tire chips with low stiffness
were either mixed with sand or placed as layers, more remark-
able damping and seismic isolation effects were observed,
with significantly reduced amplitude of acceleration at the
ground surface.
2. Because of the deformable nature of tire chips, they did not
generate significant excess pore-water pressure when sub-
jected to seismic shaking. As a result, they can prevent the
occurrence of liquefaction, especially when mixed with the
sand to form the layers. Moreover, when tire chips were
installed as layers beneath the sand, high excess pore-water
pressure was not generated in the upper saturated sandy layer
because the tire chips attenuated the amplitudes of the seismic
waves, effectively isolating the ground surface from the
seismic waves propagating from the base. The long period
components of the ground surface motion were also filtered.
3. The effectiveness of tire chips mixed with sand in reducing
acceleration and lowering excess pore-water pressure increased
as the mix ratio (by volume) was increased. When the tire chips
were installed as layers, their effects were more significant
when placed at a deeper location or when the layer was thicker.
642 / JOURNAL OF GEOTECHNICAL AND GEOENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING © ASCE / APRIL 2013
J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 2013, 139(4): 633-643
4. A significant effect in mitigating the occurrence of liquefaction
can be obtained by placing layers of pure tire chips at the
bottom of the sand layers rather than by having the same
volume of tire chips mixed with the sand to form the ground.
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