SpecificGravity(RelativeDensity)Calculations

ThefollowingvaluesarerecordedaspartofASTMC127:
A=massofovendrytestsampleinair,g
B=ofsaturatedsurfacedrytestsampleinair,g
C=apparentmassofsaturatedtestsampleinwater,g
According to the principle of buoyancy, the apparent mass of the aggregate particles suspended in
water(C)isequaltotheirovendrymassinair(A)lessthemassofwatertheydisplacewhensubmerged.
Thelatteristheproductofthemassdensityofwater(w)andthenetvolumeoftheaggregateparticles
(i.e.,thevolumeoftheaggregateparticlesexcludingtheirpermeablepores),so
C=AwVnet

AC=wVnet

Theapparentspecificgravityisdefinedastheratioofthemassoftheparticlestothemassofavolume
ofwaterequaltothenetvolumeoftheparticles,sotheapparentspecificgravitycanbecalculatedas:
Gapp

A
A

w Vnet A C

whichistheformulagivenintheASTMspecification.
TheSSDmassoftheparticles(B)isequaltotheirovendrymass(A)plusthemassofwaterneededto
completelyfilltheirpores.Thelatteristheproductofthemassdensityofwaterandthevolumeofthe
permeablepores,so
B=A+wVpore

BA=wVpore

Thebulkspecificgravity(SSD)isdefinedastheratiooftheSSDmassoftheparticlestothemassofa
volume of water equal to the gross volume of the particles (i.e., the volume including the permeable
pores),so
SSD
Gbulk

B
B
B
B

w Vgross w Vnet w Vpores A C B A B C

whichistheformulagivenintheASTMspecification.
Finally,thebulkspecificgravity(OD)istheratiooftheovendrymassoftheparticlestothemassofa
volumeofwaterequaltothegrossvolumeoftheparticles:
OD
Gbulk

A
A
A
A

w Vgross w Vnet w Vpores A C B A B C

which,again,istheformulagivenintheASTMspecification.