Evaluation of Compression Behaviors of Marine Clay Reinforced with Waste Shredded Tires

This study evaluates the compression behaviors of a soft marine clay reinforced with waste shredded tire (WST) at different sizes (<0.5 mm, 0.5–2.0 mm, and 2.0–4.0 mm) and contents (15%, 35%, and 50%). Results from compression tests indicate that the compression index (Cc) of WST-reinforced soft clay decreases with increasing WST shred size and content. The swelling index (Cs) increases as the WST shred size and content increase. The difference in compression curves becomes more significant for composite reinforced at large shred size. The void indexes of WST-reinforced Lianyungang clay can be well normalized regardless of WST shred size and content by a regression line. The WST dominates the compression behavior of the WST-clay composite, as the WST would be compressed prior to the clay particles. The results in this study provide an optimum WST content at 50% with shred size of 2.0–4.0 mm for reinforcing the Lianyungang marine clay for achieving higher compressibility, contributing to the input database of machine learning for WST-reinforced soil.