Figure 1:
![Chlef sand under study: (a) situation of Chlef (formerly El Asnam) region [42] and (b) sand visualised using a scanning electron microscope [21].](https://sciendo-parsed.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/676b20907306cc7e8721e5bc/j_sgem-2025-0005_fig_001.jpg?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA6AP2G7AKOUXAVR44%2F20251106%2Feu-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20251106T013046Z&X-Amz-Expires=3600&X-Amz-Signature=af2149a034eecc695989223484487bd7f9b8a5d6ba9d096f00cf898bdcad658a&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&x-amz-checksum-mode=ENABLED&x-id=GetObject)
Figure 2:
![Size distribution of the particles of the tested materials [25]. CC, cement content.](https://sciendo-parsed.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/676b20907306cc7e8721e5bc/j_sgem-2025-0005_fig_002.jpg?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA6AP2G7AKOUXAVR44%2F20251106%2Feu-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20251106T013046Z&X-Amz-Expires=3600&X-Amz-Signature=4c0dab19c9030a85615eefa348acee04f53cebf8d32aea4a2b73f979261b81ca&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&x-amz-checksum-mode=ENABLED&x-id=GetObject)
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Physical characteristics of Chlef sand_
| Materials used | CC (%) | GS | D50 (mm) | CU | CCURV | emin | emax |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chlef sand | 0 | 2.7 | 0.45 | 2.34 | 1.39 | 0.582 | 0.873 |
Chemical and mineralogical compositions of the cement [25]_
| CEM II/A 42.5 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Chemical compositions (%) | Mineralogical compositions (%) | ||
| SiO2 | 20.58 | C3S | 57.79 |
| Al2O3 | 4.90 | ||
| Fe2O3 | 4.70 | C2S | 20.47 |
| CaO | 62.8 | ||
| SO3 | 2.28 | C3A | 7.20 |
| MgO | 0.53 | ||
| K2O | 0.42 | C4AF | 11.49 |
| Na2O | 0.12 | ||
| Free lime | 2.17 | ||
Physicomechanical characteristics of the glass fibres used [29]_
| Name | Unit | Glass fibres | Polypropylene fibres |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colour | – | White | White |
| Width | mm | 0.12 | 0.03 |
| Thickness | mm | 0.013 | – |
| Specific gravity | – | 2.62 | 0.96 |
| Specific weight | g/m2 | 300 | – |
| Tensile strength | MPa | 2500 | 500–750 |
| Poisson coefficient | – | 0.35 | – |
| Shear modulus | GPa | 29.2 | – |
| Young modulus | GPa | 73 | 2.9–3.8 |