Experimental assessment for the thermal performance of scrap tire blocks as external wall insulators

In this paper, the advantage of reusing scrap tires in Scrap Rubber Block (SRB) to improve thermal insulation in buildings was examined experimentally. By testing the use of SRB in black and white colours as external wall insulators and comparing their performance with walls without insulation. The results indicated that a wall with scrap tire blocks gave the best thermal insulation results when the outer face was painted white. The decrement factor (f) and the rate of heat loss increase, while the rate of heat gain decreases. This was done through the mechanisms of heat transfer by conduction through the layers of the wall and the effect of adding the rubber block on its thermal properties. The results showed that the use of rubber blocks reduces the temperature of the inner surface of the wall by 3-4oC lower than the traditional wall. The thermal diffusion inside the wall was determined effectively in the case of a wall with the rubber block, where the temperature of the inner surface reaches its maximum value by about 0.5-hour difference from the traditional wall in the case of the wall with the rubber block in black colour, and 9.5-hour in the case with the white block.

Effect of Waste Tire Reinforcement with and without Cement Additives on Peat Strength Improvement

This paper presents the peat ground improvement techniques using waste-tire as a fibre reinforced material. In this study, two sizes of the waste-tire are chosen, which are 0.05 mm and 1-3 mm, respectively. The collected peat is classified as Sapric peat with the degree of decomposition of H7 based on von Post classification with high moisture content of 400% was recorded. The Sapric peat is treated with the waste-tire at designated percentages of 5%, 10% and 15% with the addition of 5% of cement acting as a binder. The untreated and treated peat without and with cement content are compacted at the optimum moisture content for both the Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS) test and Direct Shear Box Test. The specimens were air-cured for 7, 28, 56, and 90 days. Hypothetically, higher percentages of rubber improve the shear stress value of the treated peat. According to the results the finer size (0.05mm) of the tire produces a higher shear stress, which may due the finer sizes of the waste-tire filled the void between the soil particles. Further, from the 90 days of curing UCS results, there is a significant increase in compressive strength with the increase percentage of the waste-tire peat mixed samples. In summary, soil stabilized by the scrap-tire is believed to decrease the optimum moisture content and the maximum dry densities, but it helps in increasing the unconfined compressive strength value. Stabilizing by using the tire wastes not only increasing the strength of the soil, but it also helps in reducing the disposal problems.