Suitability of Locally Sourced Soils as Fine Aggregates in Concrete Production - A Review

Abstract

The increasing demand for concrete has intensified the exploitation of natural river sand used as fine aggregate, resulting in material scarcity, rising construction costs and environmental degradation from excessive sand mining. This has encouraged the search for sustainable alternative materials, including locally sourced soils, for partial replacement of river sand in concrete production. This study presented a structured review of experimental investigations on the use of lateritic, sandy, silty and clayey soils as fine aggregates in concrete. A total of 10 experimentally validated studies published majorly between 2015 and 2024 were systematically reviewed. The review evaluated the effects of these soils on workability, compressive strength, durability and cementitious interactions within the concrete matrix. Findings indicated that well-graded sandy soils and lateritic soils with low clay content can replace approximately 10–30% of river sand without significant reduction in compressive strength. Quantitative analysis showed that optimum replacement levels generally ranged between 15–25%, producing compressive strengths of approximately 24–30 MPa suitable for normal structural concrete applications. The review further revealed that soils containing appreciable silica (SiO₂) and alumina (Al₂O₃) may contribute to secondary pozzolanic reactions and improved matrix densification. However, excessive clay content (>8–10%) increased water demand, reduced workability, weakened cement–aggregate bonding and negatively affected durability performance. The use of locally sourced soils may reduce dependence on river sand and lower transportation costs in developing regions. Although preliminary durability performance at moderate replacement levels was satisfactory, further investigations involving permeability, sulphate resistance, shrinkage, carbonation and long-term durability are required before widespread structural application. The study highlighted the potential of locally sourced soils as sustainable supplementary fine aggregate materials when proper characterization, grading and mix proportioning are adopted.