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Experimental study on the utilization of dune sands as a construction material in the area between Jeddah and Mecca, Western Saudi Arabia

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Abstract

Due to the arid continental climatic conditions, about 37 % of Saudi Arabia is covered by desert sands. These sands are mostly dynamic and cause environmental problems. However, these huge quantities of dune sands are considered important natural resources of fine aggregate construction materials. The studied dune sands are predominantly coarse, medium and fine sands with average percentages of 2.4, 19.97 and 76.28 %, respectively, with scarce percents of silt and clay-size particles (around 1 %). The fineness modulus (FM) values of these sands vary from 0.98 to 1.02. Therefore, it is necessary to improve their gradation and textural characters by adding well-graded, crushed fine aggregates to produce an acceptable level of gradation. Mineralogically, the studied dune sands are mainly composed of quartz (88 %), feldspars (9 %) and a negligible amount of carbonates (2.2 %). The workability and compressive strength values of both cement mortar and concrete of the studied dune sands were found to decrease abruptly at dune sand contents >50 %. Finally, the studied dune sands are acceptable as fine aggregates for both concrete and mortar when they do not exceed 50 % of the total volume of fine aggregates at a constant mix ratio of 2:1:3 (water:cement:fine aggregates) and 1:2:4:6 (water:cement:fine aggregates: coarse aggregates), respectively, for cement mortar and concrete.

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Acknowledgments

This project was funded by the Deanship of Scientific Research (DSR), King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, under grant no. 93-145-1434. The authors, therefore, acknowledge and thank the Deanship of Scientific Research (DSR) for technical and financial support. Also, the authors wish to acknowledge Prof. Dr. Martin Gordon Culshaw (Editor-in-Chief of the Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment) and the two anonymous reviewers for insightful comments and criticism that improved the original manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Earth Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

    El-Sayed Sedek Abu Seif, Abdullah R. Sonbul, Bader Abdo Hasan Hakami & E. K. El-Sawy

  2. Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Sohag University, P.O. Box 82524, Sohag, Egypt

    El-Sayed Sedek Abu Seif

  3. Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Al-Azhar University (Assiut Branch), Assiut, Egypt

    E. K. El-Sawy

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  1. El-Sayed Sedek Abu Seif
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  2. Abdullah R. Sonbul
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  3. Bader Abdo Hasan Hakami
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  4. E. K. El-Sawy
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Correspondence to El-Sayed Sedek Abu Seif.

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Abu Seif, ES.S., Sonbul, A.R., Hakami, B.A.H. et al. Experimental study on the utilization of dune sands as a construction material in the area between Jeddah and Mecca, Western Saudi Arabia. Bull Eng Geol Environ 75, 1007–1022 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-016-0855-9

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