CONCRETE LABORATORY

CIVIL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

POLYTECHNIC KUCHING SARAWAK

PRACTICAL NO :2

TITLE : SIEVE ANALYSIS TEST ( COARSE AGGREGATE )

OBJECTIVES : TO DETERMINE A PARTICULAR SOIL GRAIN SIZE

DISTRIBUTION (GSD)

THEORY :

The grading of an aggregate is found by passing a representative sample of

dry aggregate through a series of sieves, starting with the largest mesh. The object
of grading aggregate is to assist in producing concrete with satisfactory plastic
properties (workability, cohesion, and resistance to bleeding), as well as satisfactory
hardened properties (strength, durability and surface finish). A well graded aggregate
will ensure that there are no longer volumes of cement paste and that settlement of
solids is minimized by particle interference. The terms “fine aggregate” is used to
describe a natural sand, crushed rock, crushed gravel or other material, most of
which passes through a 5mm (3/16 in.) BS Sieve. ‘Coarse aggregate’ is the term
used to describe material such as natural gravel, crushed gravel, or crushed rock,
most of which is retained on this sieve.
MATERIAL :

I. Granite stone ( Coarse aggregate )

APPARATUS :

I. Mechanical Sieve Shaker

II. Sieve ( Coarse Aggregate ) : 37.5mm, 20mm, 14mm, 10mm, 6.3mm, 5mm,
Pan
III. Weighting Balance which is sensitive to 0.1% of the load
MATERIALS & APPARATUS (FIGURES)

Sieve ( Coarse Aggregate ) 500ml Measuring Cylinder

Granite Stone ( Coarse Aggregate ) Weighting Balance

WORK PROCEDURES :

I. Weigh 5kg of the granite stone ( which passes the 25mm sieve size ). The
sample should be in a surface dry state.
II. Weigh the sieves and placed in order of decreasing size, from top to bottom in
a mechanical sieve shaker.
III. A pan should be placed underneath the nest of sieves to collect the aggregate
that passes through the smallest.
IV. Place the aggregate sample in a set of standard screens and placed in a
mechanical sieve shaker. Screening the sample for a period of 10minutes
shaking.
V. Weigh materials retained on any screen separately starting from those
retained on top screen and continuing in order pf decreasing screen size until
the material in the pan has been weighed. Wtotal of the retained material must
equally to the weight before grading ( differences must not more than 1% ),
otherwise repeat the step 1 to 4.
VI. Carefully clean each screen with a brush, care should be taken not to damage
the screen.
VII. The results are presented in a graph of percent passing versus the sieve size.
To do so, the following equation is used :-
W sieve
%Retained = x 100 %
W total
Where, Wsieve is the weight of aggregate in the sieve
Wtotal is the total weight of the aggregate

VIII. Find the cumulative percent of aggregate retained in each sieve. To do so,
add up the total amount of aggregate that is retained in each sieve and the
amount in the previous sieves retained from 100%.
% Cumulative passing = 100% - %Cumulative Retained

IX. Plot the values of cumulative percent passing versus sieve size on a
logarithmic graph.
 RESULT :

Date of sampling : 6 September 2019

Type of Aggregates : Granite Stone

Weight of sample : ______________________

Weight of Weight of
Weight of sieve Cumulative
Weight of aggregates aggregates
Sieve size and aggregates Percentage
sieve (kg) retained on each passing from
(kg) passing (%)
sieve (kg) each sieve (kg)
37.5mm 1.60 1.60 0.00 4.75 100%

20mm 1.60 1.55 0.05 4.70 98.95%

14mm 2.35 1.20 1.15 3.55 74.74%

10mm 3.30 1.40 1.90 1.65 34.74%

6.3mm 2.85 1.25 1.60 0.05 1.05%

5mm 1.05 1.00 0.05 0.00 0.00%

Pan 1.30 1.30 0.00 0.00 0.00%

Total 14.05 9.30 4.75 0.00 0.00%

PRACTICAL QUESTIONS :

i. Plot the cumulative percentage passing (%) versus size (mm) in the semi
logarithmic graph.
ii. Discuss the finding of the graph
iii. Explain why the usage of singled size of aggregates are not recommended in
the concrete mixtures.
 When we design mix the concrete, its target strength is much less than
the compressive strength of the aggregates used in the formation. It
can also be clearly seen in the mix design procedure that greater the
maximum  size of coarse aggregate used, less is the cement required
to achieve the target strength. So, undoubtedly, greater the maximum
size of coarse aggregate, greater is the compressive strength of
concrete made with 2 precautionary conditions:-

1. The coarse aggregates should be properly graded, and the

gradation becomes more and more important as we increase the
maximum size of coarse aggregate because of greater voids, which
needs to be filled to attain the desired compressive strength. As void
fraction increases on increasing the size of aggregates.

2. Maximum size of aggregate used in the mix design should not be

greater than 1/5th of the least dimension. So when we design a slab,
its thickness comes in the range of 4-6 inches(say 100-150 mm), so
the max size of aggregate should not be greater than 20 or 30 mm.
Since 20 mm is commercially available, and we cannot use 40 mm for
slabs below 200 mm thickness, we usually use 20 mm coarse
aggregate in all the designs. If the max size of aggregate is greater
than 1/5th of the least dimension, the chances of failure in shear are
extremely high.
DISCUSSION :-

Sieve analysis is an analytical technique used to determine the particle size

distribution of a granular material with macroscopic granular sizes. The sieve
analysis technique involves the layering of sieves with different grades of sieve
opening sizes.

The finest sized sieve lies on the bottom of the stack with each layered sieve stacked
above in order of increasing sieve size. When a granular material is added to the top
and sifted, the particles of the material are separated into the final layer the particle
could not pass.

Commercial sieve analysers weigh each individual sieve in the stack to determine
the weight distribution of the particles. The base of the instrument is a shaker, which
facilitates the filtering.

Sieve analysis is important for analysing materials because particle size distribution
can affect a wide range of properties, such as the strength of concrete, the solubility
of a mixture, surface area properties and even their taste.

CONCLUSION :-

After through analysis it is concluded that the soil sample is uniformly graded and
probably works best as a construction material. Also, it is inferred that because of the
low number off lines. Atterberg limit which describes the fines will not be a great
concern in contrasts to the physical properties of the sandy particles that greatly
affects the strength of the soil sample.
Note that because of the laboratory constraints, the hydrometer analysis which is
used to identify the particle size distribution of the soil was not performed and thus
the particle size distribution that was generated in this experiment is not complete.