Tire Derived Aggregate

A beneficial use for TDA in building-related projects is to utilize the material as backfill along foundation walls.  TDA’s physical properties, including its ability to shed water quickly and its potential to reduce horizontal pressures along foundation walls makes the material well-suited for this application. This is especially true in areas that experience differential soil pressures against building foundation walls.

The use of TDA as foundation wall backfill has been applied sparingly in New York.  Given the high potential value that TDA has for this building application, it is a research focus area for the TDA Program in.  Several of the TDA Program Advisory Board member organizations are working with program staff to help progress this application.  A full-scale demonstration project has been installed that allows UB researchers the opportunity to monitor lateral and vertical earth pressures, temperature, and settlement in both TDA and Conventional Back Fill. In addition a scaled version of a residential foundation is being installed on UB property as a Test Bed. The Test Bed will allow researchers the opportunity to instrument and monitor several parameters in different soil conditions than those found at the Demonstration Project site.