Professional Documents
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Aggregates
• Soil Definition (Engineering)
– “refers to all unconsolidated material in the
earth’s crust, all material above the
bedrock”
• mineral particles (gravel, sand, silt, clay)
• organic material (top soil, marshes)
• Aggregates
– mineral particles of a soil
– specifically, granular soil group
• gravel, sand, silt
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Highway Materials, Soils, and Concrete
Aggregates
• Granular Soil Group (Aggregates)
– Physical weathering
• action of frost, water, wind, glaciers, plant/animals
• particles transported by wind, water, ice
• soils formed are called granular soil type
• “grains are similar to the original bedrock”
– Larger grain sizes than clays
– Particles tend to be more or less spheres/cubes
– Bound water is small compared to overall mass
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Highway Materials, Soils, and Concrete
Aggregates
• Granular Soil Group (Aggregates)
– ability to achieve greater densities
• well graded granular material
– increased soil strength
– lower permeability
– reduced future settlement
• These improvements dictate the use of
aggregates in pavement layers where wheel
loads are greater
ENCI 579 4 4
Highway Materials, Soils, and Concrete
Aggregates
• In combination with asphalt cement or
portland cement to form asphalt concrete or
cement concrete respectively
• In subbases and bases of a roadway
structure
• drainage structures
• concrete blocks
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Highway Materials, Soils, and Concrete
Aggregates
• Types of Aggregates
• Basic properties of these aggregates
• Tests used to evaluate these properties
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Highway Materials, Soils, and Concrete
Aggregates
• Aggregate Sources
– natural sand or gravel deposits *
– crushed rock *
– slag and mine refuse
– rubble and refuse
– artificial and processed materials
– pulverized concrete and asphalt pavements
– other recycled and waste materials
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Highway Materials, Soils, and Concrete
Aggregates
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Highway Materials, Soils, and Concrete
Aggregates
• Sand / Gravel Pit Development
– Stripping of topsoil, vegetation… from surface
– Excavation of material
• material is loose - front end loaders
– Crushing of the material
• larger size aggregate is broke down to desired size
• crushed gravel is considered high quality aggregate
• washing of aggregate cleans dust removes silt/clay
– Type of material depends on bedrock source
ENCI 579 4 • Limestone, sandstone,granite,etc. 9
Highway Materials, Soils, and Concrete
Aggregates
• Crushed Rock
– “Type of aggregates produced from
quarries depends on the type of bedrock”
– Classes of Rocks
• Igneous rocks
• Sedimentary rocks
• Metamorphic rocks
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Highway Materials, Soils, and Concrete
Aggregates
• Crushed Rock
– Igneous Rocks
• Original bedrock formed from the cooling of molten
material
• Coarse grained igneous rock (granite) cooled slowly
• Fine grained igneous rocks (basalt) cooled rapidly
– Sedimentary Rocks
• Solidification of chemical or mineral sediments
deposited under ancient seas
• Layered since original material was deposited in this
ENCI 579 4 manner 11
Highway Materials, Soils, and Concrete
Aggregates
• Crushed Rock
– Sedimentary Rocks
• Limestone Calcium Carbonate
• Dolomite Calcium/Magnesium Carbonate
• Shale Clay
• Sandstone Quartz
• Chert Fine sand
• Conglomerate Gravel
ENCI 579 4 12
Highway Materials, Soils, and Concrete
Aggregates
• Crushed Rock
– Metamorphic Rocks
– Igneous or Sedimentary rocks that have been
metamorphosed due to intense heat and
pressure
• Slate shale
• Marble limestone
• Quartzite sandstone
• Gneiss granite
ENCI 579 4 13
Highway Materials, Soils, and Concrete
Aggregates
• Crushed Rock
– Igneous and Metamorphic rocks are very hard and
make an excellent source for aggregates
– Limestone and Dolomite are common sedimentary
rocks, are softer than igneous rocks but are
acceptable for aggregates
– Shale primarily composed of clay grains is weak
and disintegrates easily
– Chert also disintegrates easily
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Highway Materials, Soils, and Concrete
Aggregates
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Highway Materials, Soils, and Concrete
Aggregates
• Slag and Mine Refuse
– Slag is a waste material resulting from the
treatment of ore to produce iron, steel, nickel, ..
• Blast furnace slag from iron mills is a common
aggregate
– Mine tailings can also be used for aggregates
• Rubble and Refuse
– recycling of pulverized concrete from structures
– recycled asphalt pavements in base courses
– recycled rubber, crushed glass in base courses
ENCI 579 4 16
Highway Materials, Soils, and Concrete
Aggregates
• Types of Aggregates
– Fine Aggregate
• aggregate particles mainly between the 4.75 mm
size and the 75um sieve.
– Coarse Aggregate
• aggregate particles mainly larger than 4.75 mm
– Pit Run
• aggregate from a sand or gravel pit with no
processing
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Highway Materials, Soils, and Concrete
Aggregates
• Types of Aggregates
– Crushed Gravel
• pit gravel (or sand) that has been put through a
crusher either to break the rounded gravel particles
into smaller sizes or to produce rougher surfaces
– Crushed Rock
• aggregate from the crushing of bedrock. All particles
are angular and not rounded as in gravel
– Screenings
• chips, dust, powder that are produced from crushing
ENCI 579 4 18
Highway Materials, Soils, and Concrete
Aggregates
• Types of Aggregates
– Concrete Sand
• sand that has been washed to remove dust and fines
– Fines
• silt, clay, or dust particles smaller than 75um usually
the undesirable impurities in aggregates
ENCI 579 4 19
Highway Materials, Soils, and Concrete
Aggregates
• Types of Aggregates
– Nominal Size
• Not economical to have 100% of the particles of an
aggregate be within a specified size range.
• Reduce as much reject as possible from a pit in
order to efficiently use the material resources of a pit
• Usually 5% - 10% of the aggregate particles can be
allowed to be larger or smaller than specs
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Highway Materials, Soils, and Concrete
Aggregates
• Types of Aggregates
– Nominal Size
• Coarse aggregates 19-4.75 mm nominal aggregate
• Fine aggregate 4.75 mm nominal aggregate
– Clear
• a single size coarse aggregate is called clear. Most of
the particles are between the specified maximum
size and a minimum size which is defined as one-
half of the maximum
• 19 mm clear aggregate
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Highway Materials, Soils, and Concrete
Aggregates
• Aggregate Properties
– Gradation (grain size analysis)
• grain size distribution for highway bases and asphalt
mixes that will provide a dense strong mixture
• ensure that the voids between the larger particles are
filled with medium particles. The remaining voids
are filled with still smaller particles until the smallest
voids are filled with a small amount of fines.
• Ensure maximum density and strength using a
maximum density curve
ENCI 579 4 22
Highway Materials, Soils, and Concrete
Aggregates
Theoretical Maximum Density Curves
• Fuller Maximum Density Curve
P = (d/D)0.5
P = % passing sieve size ‘d’ and ‘D’ represents
the maximum sieve size (100% passing)
• Federal Highway Administration
P = (d/D)0.45
– plotted on semi-log paper where sieve sizes are
raised to power 0.45
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Highway Materials, Soils, and Concrete
Aggregates
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Highway Materials, Soils, and Concrete
Aggregate Gradations
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Highway Materials, Soils, and Concrete
Aggregate Gradations
• Aggregate Properties
– Gradation (grain size analysis)
• High density mixtures are important in terms of
density and asphalt cement required. Asphalt must
coat each particle and fill in most of the void space.
If you fill in void space with cheaper material such
as aggregates you save asphalt
ENCI 579 4 31
Highway Materials, Soils, and Concrete
Aggregates
• The relative density (specific gravity) and
absorption of aggregates are important
properties especially in asphalt cement
mixtures
– In the mix designs, it is important to measure
accurately the volumes occupied by the
aggregate and any water that may have
seeped into the pores in the particles.
Therefore voids must be considered in the
aggregate.
ENCI 579 4 32
Highway Materials, Soils, and Concrete
Aggregates
• For aggregates
– Dry Mass = MD
– Total Mass = MSSD
• (dry mass MD + absorbed water MWA)
– Bulk Volume = VB
• (includes volume of absorbed water)
– Net Volume = VN
• VN = VB - volume of absorbed water
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Highway Materials, Soils, and Concrete
Aggregates
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Highway Materials, Soils, and Concrete
Aggregates
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Highway Materials, Soils, and Concrete
Aggregates
ENCI 579 4 36
Highway Materials, Soils, and Concrete
Aggregates
Example 4-2 The dry mass of a sample is 2239.1 g. The mass in saturated surface-
is 2268.4 g. The net volume is 835.4 cm3. Find the relative density values.
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Highway Materials, Soils, and Concrete
Aggregate Properties
• Aggregate Hardness (resistant to wear)
– It is important that aggregates for pavement
surfaces not become rounded or polished
thereby reducing skid resistance
– Load cycles in the pavement structure tend to
break aggregates or fines will result changing
the gradation (finer) resulting in reduced
strength of the pavement structure
– Broken aggregates are not cemented into the
ENCI 579 4
structure, again reducing strength 39
Highway Materials, Soils, and Concrete
Aggregate Properties
• Aggregate Hardness (cont’d)
– Resistance to degradation during mixing,
transportation, placing and compacting is important
as soft particles may break changing the gradation
– Los Angeles Abrasion Test measures the hardness
of aggregates
– Deval Apparatus
– Aggregate Impact Value Test
– Polished Stone Value Test
ENCI 579 4 40
Highway Materials, Soils, and Concrete
Aggregate Properties
• Aggregate Durability
– resistance to degradation due to cycles of wetting
and drying, heating and cooling, and freezing and
thawing
– freezing and thawing
• pore spaces in the aggregate are often saturated and
on freezing expands
• repeated cycles can cause the aggregate to break
• sedimentary rocks are vulnerable because of planes
of weakness between layers
ENCI 579 4 – Soundness Test Field Performance / Absorption Value 41
Highway Materials, Soils, and Concrete
Aggregate Properties
• Aggregate Particle Shape/Surface Texture
– bonding capability with asphalt cement
• particles with rough fractured faces allow a better
bond with asphalt cements than rounded smooth
particles
– resistance to one particle sliding over another
– flat, thin, long aggregate particles break easier
than cubical particles
• Specifications restrict the percentage of long thin
particles and require aggregates particles having at
ENCI 579 4 least one fractured face 42
Highway Materials, Soils, and Concrete
Aggregate Properties
• Deleterious Substances
– harmful or injurious materials including various
types of weak or low quality particles or
coatings found on the surface of aggregates
• dust (material passing the 75 um sieve)
• clay lumps, shale, coal particles, friable particles,
chert (weak in terms of freezing and thawing)
– These substances effect the bond between
cements and aggregates and break easily
ENCI 579 4
– Petrographic analysis Sand Equivalency Test
43
Highway Materials, Soils, and Concrete
Aggregate Properties
• Aggregate Crushing Strength
– crushing strength is the compressive load that
aggregate particles can carry before breaking
– relatively unimportant for most aggregates
strength is higher than the strength of an asphalt
mix
• Chemical Stability
– refers to specific problems due to chemical
composition
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Highway Materials, Soils, and
Concrete Aggregate Specifications
Soundness test:
Original mass 2649g 2649-2115 = 20.2%
Final mass 2115 g 2649
-lower strength fines content
-drainage and frost heave potential
ENCI 579 4 48
-durability question freeze/thaw resistance
Highway Materials, Soils, and Concrete
Aggregate Sampling and Testing
ENCI 579 4 49
Highway Materials, Soils, and Concrete
Aggregate Sampling and Testing
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Highway Materials, Soils, and Concrete
Aggregate Sampling and Testing
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Highway Materials, Soils, and Concrete
Aggregate Sampling and Testing
ENCI 579 4 55
Highway Materials, Soils, and Concrete
Aggregate Sampling and Testing
ENCI 579 4 56
Highway Materials, Soils, and Concrete
Aggregate Sampling and Testing
ENCI 579 4 57