Feasibility Study of Using Crumb Rubber as Filler in Noise Barrier Wall

Recent development in automobile sector has increased the use of car as the main mode of
transportation thus tremendously boosted tyres production. This situation has led to generation of
massive stockpiles of used tyres which resulted in uncountable environmental implications since
they are non-biodegradable. Therefore, this study is conducted aiming to recycle used tyres in the
form of crumb rubber by producing a prototype noise barrier wall which used crumb rubber as
the filler. The experimental study focused primarily on the capability of the crumb rubber noise
barrier wall to reduce noise. The methodologies adopted in this study consist of four stages. First,
field investigation was conducted to obtain the average traffic noise and noise reduction value.
Then, sieve analysis was carried out to determine the percentage of crumb rubber passing sieve
no. 3.35 mm and 600 }un as these sizes will be used as filler in the noise barrier wall. Next, a
prototype noise barrier wall of dimension 1200 mm x 1000 mm was constructed in a laboratory
using hollow concrete blocks. The crumb rubber noise barrier wall was built in four different
arrangements to see the differences of noise reduction value between noise barrier wall with and
without side wall, noise barrier wall with and without crumb rubber filler and noise barrier wall
with sealed and unsealed joints. After that, sound reduction testing was conducted for each
arrangement. The results obtained indicated that different arrangements yielded different noise
levels. More importantly, the results proved that crumb rubber do has potential in absorbing
noise. In the end of the study, it can be concluded that crumb rubber could be used as filler for
noise barrier wall to reduce traffic noise as it is capable of absorbing noise.