Co-valorisation of Local Materials Tuffs and Dune Sands in Construction of Roads

The main objective of this study is to enhance the performances of local materials in order to be used in road construction sector. To enhance the performances of this local materials, the strategy adopted is to combine the beneficial effects of mixing different materials and treatment using binders. The materials used in this study are tuffs and dune sands. Hence the present work is also a contribution to the co-valorisation of local materials in arid region of the south of Algeria. According to the results obtained, it is shown that the tuffs of the Saharan regions are suitable for the use of Saharan pavements, particularly in base layers and foundations. The incorporation of dune sand up to 20% improves the mechanical performance. The binders treatment (cement, lime and cement/lime) have induced a further improvement in bearing capacity and compressive strength as well as tensile strength. With these improvement, the materials could be used in roads with heavy and important traffic.