Engineering Properties of Basalt Coarse Aggregates in Hamdan Area, NW Sana’a, Yemen

Sana’a city has been growing fast vertically and horizontally to provide housing, business and other facilities to the ever in. This work was undertaken to determine the quality of basalt coarse aggregate in Hamdan area, NW Sana’a. It included field work which consisted of collection of basalt aggregate samples and hand specimens. The study covered coarse aggregates from one of the main crushers in the vicinity of Sana’a city, about 12 km NW of Sana’a. The objective of this study is to determine the physical and mechanical properties of basalt coarse aggregates and comparison of the results with the standards. Chemical composition of basalt was determined by the X-ray fluorescence (XRF). The thin sections show that the studied basalt is mainly composed of calcic plagioclase and augite with few olivine. The types of testing required are gradation, specific gravity, water absorption, flakiness and elongation, Los Angeles abrasion value, aggregate impact value soundness and alkali-silica reactivity. The results showed that, the basalt coarse aggregates in Hamdan area comply with the international standards