Summary

The Pneusol (Tyresoil) is formed by the association of two elements, used tyre and soil. The word ``tyres'' means here all parts of old tyres (two sidewalls and a tread) or entired tyres used together in chains or in tiers and capable of withstanding large tensile forces. The word ``soil'' covers both the whole range of natural grounds, and a variety of wastes. By the end of 1993, more than 250 structures have been built in France, 12 in Algeria, 6 in the United States of America, and others in Switzerland, in Germany, in Roumania, in Jordan, in Brazil, in Rwanda...covering a wide range of civil engineering applications (retaining walls, lightweight fill, energy absorber, stress repartitor, slope or river protection...). This thesis presents all the possibilities of this material, its technology, its behaviour, its methods and recommendations for its installation.