EVALUATING THE ENGINEERING PROPERTIES OF SANDY BRICKS MADE WITH DUNE SANDS, JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA: AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

Saudi Arabia characterizes by its dry continental climatic conditions. So that vast areas were covered with dune sands and sheets. Mostly of these sands were concentrated in the eastern regions (Al Rub Al Khali) and western coastal areas. These huge quantities of sands considered as natural resources of fine aggregates which can used as in constructional building materials. From alkali-aggregate reaction point of view, the studied dune sands are enough stable chemically. Based on the unconfined compressive strength test, the dune sands can used as fine aggregates in sand-cement bricks till 70% of the total amount of fine aggregates.