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Well I don't claim to be an expert, but I've read elsewhere that there are a lot of different qualities of sand, and that desert sand is not (as) useful as building material due to its shape and structure.

https://www.quora.com/Why-is-desert-sand-not-used-for-constr...

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Just asked a friend of mine who is a civil engineer. He said desert sand is a bad idea for standing concrete structures. However, mixing a bit with supported concrete structures like a concrete pad or roads makes them less prone to cracking.

For particular demanding applications all sand is sifted and structure/shape of the sand checked.

For evening more demanding application sand may be produced via crushing to get long flat sand grains.

Also the checking of the quality of sand is called sieve analysis.

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