Properties of Sand Concrete from Oil Wells Reinforced by Polypropylene Fibers

Abstract

The disposal of waste produced during drilling activities in the hydrocarbon industry poses a significant environmental risk, necessitating its effective management. To address this issue, a viable solution is to utilize this waste in the production of sand concrete as a substitute for conventional sand concrete.This research endeavor focuses on conducting experimental investigations to explore the feasibility of incorporating oil well sand into sand concrete and reinforcing it with polypropylene fibers. By partially replacing oil well sands with dune sands (at percentages of 8%, 15%, and 25%) and alluvial sands (at percentages of 12%, 20%, and 30%), the oil content in the sand from oil wells was reduced from 20% to 5%. Additionally, various fiber dosages (1 and 1.5 kg/m³) were used to reinforce the sand concrete.The introduction of dune sand and alluvial sand successfully decreased the proportion of oil sand obtained from oil wells. This incorporation resulted in enhancements to both the fresh and hardened properties of the sand concrete. The most favorable strengths, in terms of compressive and tensile properties, were achieved when utilizing a blend of 30% alluvial sand and 70% oil well sand.Furthermore, the addition of fibers at a dosage of 1.5 kg/m³ exhibited a more pronounced impact on the strength (compressive and tensile) and shrinkage of the mixtures comprising 30% alluvial sand and 70% oil well sand.