Stabilizing sand dunes using cement kiln dust and gypsum in the Bahar Al-Najaf region

Abstract

To study the effect of Gypsum - CKD mixture in different proportions in the Bahr Al-Najaf sand dunes area, and to study the strength of this mixture in resisting wind pressure, the sand dunes were covered in the study location, an area of 4 * 4 m, with nine iterations by adding a layer with a thickness of 1 cm of the studied treatments (D3G0, D3G1, D3G3). Physical and chemical tests were conducted, including penetration strength, shear strength of soil, and stability of soil aggregates. Physical tests showed that the stability of the soil aggregates increased with the increase of Gypsum content, and ranged between 27.4% and 32.1%. As a result, the shear strength of the millings also increased, ranging between 62.69 and 96.83 kN/m². The results of the penetration resistance indicated that the treatments containing high Gypsum percentages experienced a decrease in the penetration resistance values over time as a result of the influence of climatic factors such as humidity and precipitation. The penetration coefficient values for the treatments ranged between 5.38 and 6.13 kg.m² per second.