HOLY ANGEL UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE

ANGELES CITY, PAMPANGA

CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS AND

TESTING LABORATORY

LABORATORY EXERCISE NO.5 - 1 - B:

COMPACT UNIT WEIGHT DETERMINATION OF FINE
AGGREGATES

ARGUELLES, ANGEL JOSHUA H.

CE – 404

DATE PERFORMED: FEBRUARY 26, 2019

DATE OF SUBMISSION: MARCH 05, 2019

ENGR. RENATO S. DAVID

MATERIALS TESTING LAB INSTRUCTOR

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OBJECTIVE AND INTRODUCTION
THIS TEST METHOD COVERS THE DETERMINATION OF UNIT WEIGHT (BULK
DENSITY) OF AGGREGATES; BULK DENSITY MEANS UNIT WEIGHT OF
AGGREGATES IN A COMPACTED OR LOOSE CONDITION. FOR THIS EXPERIMENT,
OUR GOAL IS TO DETERMINE THE COMPACTED UNIT WEIGHT OF FINE
AGGREGATES.

BULK DENSITY IS THE WEIGHT OF SOIL FOR A GIVEN VOLUME. IT IS USED

TO MEASURE COMPACTION. IN GENERAL, THE GREATER THE DENSITY, THE LESS
PORE SPACE FOR WATER MOVEMENT, ROOT GROWTH AND PENETRATION, AND
SEEDLING GERMINATION.

BULK-DENSITY DEPENDS UPON HOW DENSELY THE AGGREGATE IS

PACKED. IT ALSO DEPENDS UPON THE SIZE, DISTRIBUTION AND SHAPE OF THE
PARTICLES. IF THE PARTICLES ARE OF THE SAME SIZE, THEN IT CAN BE PACKED
TO A LIMITED EXTENT BUT WHEN THE SMALLER PARTICLES ARE ADDED, THE
VOIDS GET FILLED WITH THEM AND THUS THE BULK DENSITY INCREASES. FOR A
COARSE AGGREGATE, A HIGHER BULK DENSITY MEANS THAT THERE ARE FEW
VOIDS WHICH ARE TO BE FILLED BY THE FINE AGGREGATE AND CEMENT. THUS
BULK DENSITY ALSO DEPENDS UPON THE DEGREE OF PACKING.

APPARATUSES

VOLUMETRIC MEASURE TAMPING ROD WEIGHING SCALE

PROCEDURE
THE VOLUMETRIC MEASURE SHALL BE CALIBRATED BY DETERMINING THE
WEIGHT OF WATER REQUIRED TO FILL IT. VOLUME OF CONTAINER IS EQUAL TO

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WEIGHT DIVIDED BY THE UNIT WEIGHT OF WATER AT THE TEMPERATURE OF
CALIBRATION.

1. FILL ONE-THIRD OF MEASURE, LEVEL, AND TAMP 25 TIMES EVENLY

DISTRIBUTED OVER SURFACE.

2. FILL TWO-THIRDS OF THE MEASURE AND REPEAT THE SAME PROCEDURE AS

IN STEP-1.

3. LASTLY, FILL THE MEASURE TO OVERFLOWING AND REPEAT PROCEDURE AS

IN STEP-1.

* IN TAMPING, THE ROD SHOULD PENETRATE ONLY THE LAYER BEING TAMPED
AND SHOULD NOT BE FORCED INTO THE BOTTOM OF THE MEASURE OR LAST
LAYER PLACED.

4. STRIKE-OFF THE EXCESS AGGREGATE WITH THE TAMPING ROD.

5. GET NET WEIGHT OF AGGREGATE IN MEASURE. COMPUTE UNIT WEIGHT BY

DIVIDING THE NET WEIGHT BY THE VOLUME OF MEASURE.

DATA AND COMPUTATION

IN DETERMINING THE COMPACTED UNIT WEIGHT OF THE SAMPLE, WE
JUST NEED TO RECORD THE DATA OBTAINED DURING THE EXPERIMENT AND
SUBSTITUTE THEM ON RESPECTIVE COMPUTATIONS:

COMPACT UNIT WEIGHT

a. Weight of Volumetric Measure + Water, gm. 8708

b. Weight of Measure, gm. 372
c. Weight of water, gm., (a) - (b) 8336
d. Unit Weight of Water, gm/cm3 1
e. Volume of Measure, cm3 8336
f. Weight of Volumetric Measure + Sample, gm. 13428
g. Weight of sample, gm, (f) – (b) 13056
h. Compacted Unit Weight, gm/cm3, (g)/(e) 1.5662

OBSERVATION
THIS EXPERIMENT WAS MADE IN ORDER TO CREATE UNIFORM SAMPLE.
THIS IS VERY USEFUL DURING A CEMENT PRODUCTION PROCESS. EXPERIMENT
SHOWS HOW MUCH THE BULK DENSITY (UNIT WEIGHT) AND PERCENTAGE OF
VOIDS WITHIN AGGREGATE ARE. FOR BETTER STRENGTH, FEWER VOIDS IS

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DESIRED FOR CEMENT. WHENEVER THE SIZE OF AGGREGATE INCREASES THE
VOID PERCENTAGE AND VOLUME INCREASES STEADILY. AS SPACE WITHIN
AGGREGATE INCREASES LESS STRENGTH OCCURS AT CEMENT.

CONCLUSION
THE FINE AGGREGATE SAMPLE WE USED IN THE EXPERIMENT IS FOUND
TO HAVE A COMPACTED UNIT WEIGHT OF 1.5662 g/cm3.

FOR THE NEXT EXPERIMENT, WE WILL BE DETERMINING THE LOOSE UNIT

WEIGHT OF THE SAMPLE WE USED. THEN WE WILL COMPARE THE TWO RESULTS
TO DETERMINE WHICH OF THE TWO CAN PROVIDE BETTER CEMENT STRENGTH.

DOCUMENTATION

REFERENCES
Civil Engineers PK, “Bulk Density,” https://civilengineerspk.com/plain-reinforced-concrete-
experiments/exp-5-bulk-density/

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Eastern Mediterranean University, “Bulk Density (Unit Weight) and Voids in Aggregate (ASTM
C 29),” http://civil.emu.edu.tr/courses/civl284/2015-2016FALL/SAMPLE%20LAB
%20REPORT.pdf

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