Placing a machine footing over a small thickness of soil layer, which is located over a bedrock, could encounter many challenges due to the bed’s notable stiffness in comparison to the soil. The advantages of using rubbers to protect facilities (structures, machine foundations, nearby footings and equipment, etc.) from vibration and control its consequences are well known nowadays. In this study, the benefits of employing a small thickness of rubber sheet (2 mm) on the dynamic response of a machine foundation which is located over four thicknesses of soil (210, 420, 630, and 840 mm) has been investigated. The soil layer is located over an artificial bedrock that is consisted of a thick concrete layer. The tests have been conducted in a vast test pit of size 2500×2500 mm and a depth of 840 mm by using a semi large-scale machine foundation model with a square concrete foundation of width 400×400×100 mm. It was observed that, by increasing the soil layer thickness, the resonant frequency and amplitude of the vibrating system decreases. Moreover, by employing a rubber sheet beneath the machine footing, the resonant frequency of the vibrating system significantly decreases especially for a small thickness of the soil layer. Although, using a rubber sheet could slightly increase the resonant amplitude, but the benefit of the resonant frequency-changing capability of the rubber sheet is too impressive by taking the resonant frequency of the system far enough from the unchangeable working frequency of the machine and preventing the resonant phenomenon to happen.
Nowadays the waste rubber problems are concerned due to the environmental issues, storage, and recycling difficulty. However, the rubber base equipment has been widely used to protect structures for vibrations - that has been generated by the structure or induced from the vicinity area or the bedrock into the structure - due to the notable capability of absorbing energy. In this study, the repeated-loading behaviour of the Sand Rubber Mixture (SRM) has been investigated and the remarkable energy absorption properties of the mixture have been illustrated. The test soil material that has been used in this study was a well-graded sand (SW) with a mean grain size of 2 mm. The test martial rubber that has been used was grain particles with a uniform size of 4.76 mm. The sand rubber mixture (SRM) was prepared by using 7.5% rubber inclusion because it was found as the optimum rubber content. A series of force control repeated-loading CBR tests have been arranged. The effect of mixing rubber particles with the well-graded sand (SW test material) has been investigated. This shows the remarkable energy absorption capability of Sand Rubber Mixture (SRM) to protect the bed of a machine’s footing that is generating repeated loads. The SRM usage could be extended to be employed as a part of an energy absorption unit and dampers facilities beneath a machine footing or structures that are sensitive to the vibration to prevent destructive deformation and resonance phenomenon.
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