###### Abstract  
Blasting is an unavoidable activity in geotechnical engineering, road and tunnel construction, and mining and quarrying. However, this activity can expose the environment to various hazards that are challenging to control and, at the same time, critical for the safety of site workers, equipment, and surrounding structures. This research aims to evaluate the ability of sand-tire shred mixtures to reduce peak blast pressure, which is the leading cause of damage to underground structures under surface explosion. ABAQUS software is used to model the material behavior under explosion and is validated using the results of previous studies and an empirical equation. Different scenarios are created by using mixture layers with different thicknesses (2, 4, and 6 m) and tire shred contents (10%, 20%, and 30%) that are subjected to various surface explosion charges (100, 500, 1000, and 5000 kg). The thickness of the mixture layer is found to be directly related to the dissipation of explosion energy. However, the percentage of the rubber content in the mixture is only significant in reducing peak blast pressure when a thick enough mixture layer is used. The results confirm the adequate performance of the correctly chosen sand-tire shred mixtures in reducing peak blast pressure and protecting the underground structure from surface explosion hazards. explosion hazards; sand-tire shred mixtures; waste tire; surface explosion; peak blast pressure; geotechnical hazards; energy dissipation; reusing waste tires +
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charge weight [6; 13; 14]. The soil type also significantly affects peak pressure; the denser the soil, the higher the peak pressure [15]. Although many studies have been conducted to evaluate the behavior of different soils under explosion conditions, the performance of sand-tire shred mixture has not been studied to see whether it has any effects on surface explosion energy dissipation. Millions of scrap tires are stored in the ecosystem annually, causing environmental issues [16]. Some countries have recently invested in recycling and reusing waste tires, but still, in other countries, it is only a small percentage of waste tires that are recycled or reused, and the rest are destined for landfills, stockpiles, or illegal disposals [17; 18; 19; 20]. With an increasing volume of waste produced each year, this low level of recycling will not be enough to eliminate the environmental issues associated with the waste tires. On the positive side, the recycling rate of waste tires has increased in the last decades, and a significant number of researchers have paid attention to recycling and reusing waste tires in different industries [21; 22]. Due to their low density, high drainage, and high energy dissipation capacity [23; 24], waste tires can be used in various engineering applications to improve or alter the mechanical properties of soils [25; 26]. A typical application is to combine the tire shreds with sandy soils. This mixture has been used in different projects such as backfilling, embankment constructions, soil reinforcement, road construction, liquefaction mitigation, and seismic base isolation [16; 27; 28; 29; 30; 31; 32; 33; 34; 35]. The ability of sand-tire shred mixtures to dissipate vibration energy has been demonstrated in seismic base isolators. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [36] reported an increase in the damping ratio of sand due to the addition of tire shreds. [PERSON] et al. [37] showed that the damping ratio of sand-tire shred mixtures significantly increases with increasing the rubber content. [PERSON] et al. [38] reported that the maximum damping ratio of pure sand is less than 10%, whereas the corresponding value is up to 15% for sand-tire shred mixtures. Because of its high energy dissipation capacity, this mixture has been used in other engineering applications such as railway sub-ballast layers [39; 40] and geotechnical seismic isolation [41; 42; 43]. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [44] showed that geotechnical seismic isolation could effectively mitigate seismic hazards.