A mixture of crushed pieces of discarded tyres and sand around foundations can protect buildings during earthquakes, civil engineers from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) say.

The world is coming up with some great ideas from waste and thrown away tyres. They are now used in the making of tarmac for road surfaces, right down to the householder making garden planters from discarded tyres.

They can also be used in making barriers against land subsidence, by

weaving a wall and filling the old tyres with soil or concrete as the wall is been built.

Sea defenses are also made from discarded tyres. some are even used as a type of barrier reef and are fastened together under water. This idea has been very successful to attract breeding water life, who use the reef for shelter and also breeding purposes.

This new idea comes out of India.

The article explains discarded tyres are crushed and mixed with concretes. The mix forms a perimeter around the building and the foundations before the building starts to be built. The waste tyre and concrete mix  will take any of the vibrations caused by an earthquake. A similar idea has been used in some countries to make walls on eroded river beds and road sides. As you can see in the image, the tyre sidewalls have been removed and the centres are stacked on top of each other. The wall is sloped back and filled in with earth or concrete as the wall rises, making an effective barrier against erosion.

India is very prone to earthquakes and this new development will protect new buildings as well as using millions of old tyres.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.bangaloremirror.com