AGGREGATES

Main Use: Ingredients in Portland Cement and Asphalt

Concrete.
Size: Coarse, Medium, and Fine Aggregate
Form 79-85% by wt. For Cement Concrete
and 92-96% by wt. For Asphalt concrete.

Aggregate Source:
Natural: gravel pits, river run deposits, and rock
quarries.
Manufactured: slag waste from mills expanded shale,
styro foam.
Geological Classification: Igneous, Sedimentary, and
Metamorphic.

American University of Beirut

Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Faculty of Engineering and Architecture

AGGREGATES
Suitability: The suitability of aggregates from a given
source must be evaluated by a combination of tests to
check physical, chemical, and mechanical properties.

Particle Shapes:

American University of Beirut

Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Faculty of Engineering and Architecture

AGGREGATES
Aggregate Properties:
Particle shape and surface texture:
Shape of aggregate particles determines how the
material will pack into a dense configuration within the
mix.
Angular aggregates produce bulk materials with higher
stability than rounded aggregates.
Flakiness describes the relationship between the
smallest and largest dimension.
Roughness of aggregate surface plays an important role
in the way aggregate compacts and bonds with the
binder material.

American University of Beirut

Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Faculty of Engineering and Architecture

AGGREGATES
Particle shape and surface texture (contd):
Rough Texture aggregates are more difficult to compact
into dense mix than smooth texture.
But rough texture aggregates have better bond with
cementing material than smooth texture.

Soundness and Durability:

The ability of aggregate to withstand weathering is
defined as soundness or durability. Water that freezes
inside the voids of aggregates generates stresses that can
fracture the stones. The soundness test (ASTM C80)
simulates weathering by soaking the aggregates in either
Sodium sulfates or Magnesium sulfates solution. These
sulfates causes crystals to grow in the aggregate voids,
simulating the effect of freezing.

American University of Beirut

Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Faculty of Engineering and Architecture

AGGREGATES
Toughness, Hardness, and Abrasion Resistance:
The ability of aggregates to resist loads and
disintegration.
Los Angeles abrasion test evaluates the aggregate
toughness and abrasion resistance (ASTM C131).

Absorption:
Aggregate can capture water and asphalt binder in their
surface voids.

Voids and moisture absorption of aggregates: (A) bone dry, (b) air dry, saturated surface-dry (SSD), and (d) moist
American University of Beirut

Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Faculty of Engineering and Architecture

AGGREGATES
Absorption (contd):
Absorption is defined as the moisture content in the
SSD condition. Moist or wet aggregates have a
moisture content in excess of the SSD condition.

Specific Gravity:
The weight-volume Characteristics of aggregate are not an
important indicator of aggregate quality, but they are
important for concrete mix design.
Specific Gravity: is the mass of material divided by the
mass of an equal volume of water.
There are four types of specific gravity based on how
voids in the aggregate are considered. The first three are
used for cement concrete.
American University of Beirut

Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Faculty of Engineering and Architecture

AGGREGATES
Bulk Specific Gravity = Dry Wt./(Total particle Vol.)w
= Ws / (Vs+Vi+Vp)w
Bulk SSD Sp. Gr. = SSD Wt./(Total particle Vol.)w
= (Ws +Wp) / (Vs+Vi+Vp)w
Apparent Sp. Gr. = Dry Wt./(Vol. Not accessible to water)w
= Ws / (Vs+Vi)w
where,

Ws: weight of solids

Vs : Volume of solids
Vi : Volume of water impermeable voids
Vp : Volume of permeable voids
Wp: Wt. of water in permeable voids when the aggregate is in
the SSD condition
w : Unit wt. of water.
American University of Beirut

Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Faculty of Engineering and Architecture

AGGREGATES
Effective Sp. Gr.= Dry wt. / (Vol. not accessible to asphalt) w
= Ws / (Vs + Vc)w
where Vc = Vol. Of voids not filled with asphalt
Usually effective sp. Gr. Is considered when water
absorption of aggregate is greater than 2.5%.

American University of Beirut

Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Faculty of Engineering and Architecture

AGGREGATES
Sieve Analysis Gradation
Sieve Size

Wt. Retained g.
(a)

Cumulative g.
Retained (b)

Cum. %
Retained (c) =
(b)*100/Total

Percent Passing
(d)= 100 (c)

4.75mm (No.4)

100

2.36mm (No.8)

33.2

33.2

94

2.00mm(No.10)

56.9

90.1

18

82

1.18mm(No.16)

83.1

173.2

34

66

0.60mm(No.30)

151.4

324.6

64

36

0.30mm(No.50)

40.4

365.0

71

29

0.15mm(No.100)

72.0

437.0

86

14

0.075mm(No.200)

58.3

495.3

96.9

3.1

Pan

15.6

510.3

100

Total

510.9

American University of Beirut

Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Faculty of Engineering and Architecture

AGGREGATES
Maximum Density Gradation: The density of an
aggregate mix is a function of size distribution of the
aggregates. In 1907 Fuller established the relationship
determining the distribution of aggregates that provides the
maximum density or minimum amount of voids:
Pi = 100(di / D)0.45
where Pi = percent passing a sieve of size di
di = the sieve size in question
D = maximum size of the aggregate

American University of Beirut

Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Faculty of Engineering and Architecture

AGGREGATES
Types of aggregate grain-size distributions plotted on 0.45 gradation chart
100 ---

Dense

Gap
Open

OneSized

0
Effect of Amount of Fines on the relative Properties of Aggregate Base Material
Characteristics

No Fines
(Open or Clean)

Well-Graded
(Dense)

Large amount of
Fines
(Dirty or Rich)

Stability

Medium

Excellent

Poor

Density

Low

High

Low

Permeability

Permeable

Low

Impervious

Frost Susceptibility

No

Maybe

Yes

Handling

Difficult

Medium

Easy

Cohesion

Poor

Medium

Large

American University of Beirut

Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Faculty of Engineering and Architecture

AGGREGATES
Sieve Size
19
mm

12.5
mm

9.5
mm

4.75
mm

2.36
mm

in

in

3/8 in

No. 4

No. 8

No. 30 No. 50 No. 100 No. 200

Specs

100

80-100

70-90

50-70

35-50

18-29

13-23

8-16

4-10

Agg.A

100

90

59

16

Agg.B

100

100

100

96

82

51

36

21

Blend

100

95

80

56

43

26

18

11

4.5

Opening

0.60
mm

0.30
mm

0.15
mm

0.075
mm

Example of Aggregates Blending Analysis by graphical Method

(percent passing each sieve)

American University of Beirut

Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Faculty of Engineering and Architecture

Aggregate B percent passing

AGGREGATES

American University of Beirut

Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Faculty of Engineering and Architecture

AGGREGATES
1.
2.
3.

4.
5.
6.

Plot percentage passing thru each sieve on the right axis for
agg. A and on the left axis for agg. B (shown open circles).
For each sieve size connect the left and right axes
Plot the specs limits of each sieve on the corresponding sieve
line, that is, a mark is placed on the 9.5mm sieve line
corresponding to 70% and 90% on the vertical axis. (shown
closed circle)
Connect the upper- and lower-limit points on each sieve line
Draw vertical lines thru the rightmost point of the upper-limit
line and the leftmost point of the lower-limit line. If the upperand lower- limit lines overlap, no combination will meet specs
Any vertical line drawn between these two vertical lines
identifies agg. blend that meet specs. Intersection with upper
axis is the % of agg. B and on the lower axis is % of agg. A

American University of Beirut

Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Faculty of Engineering and Architecture

Specific Gravity and Absorption

of Coarse Aggregates
A
Bulk Dry Sp. Gr. =
BC

B
Bulk SSD Sp. Gr. =
BC

Apparent Sp. Gr.=

Absorption (%)=
A = dry weight
American University of Beirut

A
AC
B-A
(100)
A

B=SSD weight

C=submerged weight

Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Faculty of Engineering and Architecture

Specific Gravity and Absorption

of Fine Aggregates
A
Bulk Dry Sp. Gr. = B S C
S
Bulk SSD Sp. Gr. = B S C

Apparent Sp. Gr.=

A
BAC

Absorption (%)=

S-A
(100)
A

A = dry weight B = weight of the pycnometer filled with water

C = weight of the pycnometer filled with aggregate and water
S = Saturated surface dry weight of the sample
American University of Beirut

Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Faculty of Engineering and Architecture