Use of waste tire-chips in shallow footings subjected to eccentric loading-an experimental study

•The use of waste tires in shallow footings is studied under eccentric loading.•Bearing capacity of sand significantly increased on addition of waste tires.•Maximum tire chip content of 30% by weight is recommended.•The proposed technique can help in bulk utilization of tire wastes in a sustainable way. Growing generation of waste tires represents a serious danger to the environment and human well-being. This paper focusses on applications of tire wastes in shallow footings subjected to eccentric loading. Presence of eccentric loads significantly reduces the load carrying capacity of the soil. Therefore, laboratory model tests were conducted on tire chip reinforced sand subjected to eccentric loading conditions. Parameters considered for the study were waste tire chip content, reinforcement depth and relative density while eccentricity of the loading was varied as 0.1B and 0.2B, where B is the width of the footing. A substantial increase in bearing capacity was observed at all strains. Based on the experimental results, the optimum quantity of tire waste and the depth of reinforcement recommended is 30% (by weight) and 1B respectively. The improvements were more significant at higher eccentricities with bearing capacity ratio obtained as high as 5.77 and 7.46 at low and high strains respectively. Moreover, the beneficial effects of the proposed technique were visible at both the dense as well as loose states.