Aggregates

Usually refers to a soil that has in some

way been processed or sorted.

For Reading Material

Refer to Appendix “D” of Text and Chapter 19 of

the Traffic & Highway Engineering Book.

CE 518 Pavement Engineering 1

Aggregate Processing

• Excavation
• Transportation
• Crushing
• Sizing
• Washing

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 Excavation
* Natural sands and gravels
- Underwater sources
+ Rivers & lakes
+ Barge-mounted dredges, draglines,
scoop, conveyors, or pumps
+ Relatively clean
- Land sources
+ Gravel or sand pits
+ Bucket loader

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Excavation

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 Excavation

* Crushed stone and rock

- Rock depths < 50 ft., overburden washed
out during processing

- Rock depths > 50 ft., remove overburden

+ Soil stripped with bulldozers
and scrapers

- Blasting required
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Excavation

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 Crushing

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Crushing
River Gravel Partially Crushed
River Gravel

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Transportation

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Transportation

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 Transportation

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Sizing

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 Stockpiling

* Prevent segregation and contamination

* Good stockpiling = uniform gradations
- Short drop distances
- Minimize moving
- Don't use "single cone" method
- Separate stockpiles

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Stockpiling

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 Sampling
• Why Sampling Is Important
– To evaluate the potential quality of a
proposed aggregate source.
• Does new source meet aggregate
specifications?
– To determine compliance with project
specification requirements.
• Do current aggregates meet specifications?

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Sampling from Stockpile

Sampling from Fine

Aggregate Stockpile

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8
 Sampling from Conveyor

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Source Aggregate Properties

Toughness
Soundness
Deleterious Materials
Gradation
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 Definitions
* Coarse Aggregate
- Retained on 4.75 mm (No. 4) ASTM D692
- Retained on 2.38 mm (No. 8) Asphalt Institute
- Retained on 2.00 mm (No. 10) HMA Book

* Fine Aggregate.
- Passing 4.75 mm (No. 4) ASTM D1073
- Passing 2.38 mm (No. 8) Asphalt Institute

* Mineral Filler
- At least 70% Pass. 0.075 mm ASTM D242

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Toughness
* Los Angeles Abrasion (AASHTO T96, ASTM C131):
Resistance of coarse agg to abrasion and
mechanical degradation during handling,
construction and use

* Aggregate at standard gradation subjected to

damage by rolling with prescribed number of steel
balls in large drum for a given number of rotations

* Result expressed as % changes in original weight

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 LA Abrasion Test

- Approx. 10% loss for extremely hard igneous rocks

- Approx. 60% loss for soft limestones and sandstones
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Soundness
* Estimates resistance to weathering .

* Simulates freeze/thaw action by successively wetting

and drying aggregate in sodium sulfate or magnesium
sulfate solution
+ One immersion and drying is considered one
cycle

* Result is total percent loss over various sieve intervals

for a prescribed number of cycles
+ Max. loss values typically range from
10 to 20%per 5 cycles
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 Soundness

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Soundness

Before After

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Clay Lumps and Friable Particles
ASTM C 142

Dries a given mass of agg., then soaks for 24

hr., and each particle is rubbed. A washed
sieve is then performed over several screens,
the aggregate dried, and the percent loss is
reported as the % clay or friable particles.

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Gradations

• Aggregate Gradation
– The distribution of particle sizes expressed
as a percent of total weight.
– Determined by sieve analysis

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Steps in Gradation Analysis

• Part 1 - Washed sieve analysis

– Dry aggregate and determine mass
– Wash and decant water through
0.075 mm sieve until water is clear
– Dry aggregate to a constant mass

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Washed Sieve

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Steps in Gradation Analysis

Part 2 - Mechanical sieve analysis

– Place dry aggregate in standard stack
of sieves
– Place sieve stack in mechanical
shaker
– Determine mass of aggregate
retained on each sieve
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Mechanical Sieve

Individual Sieve Stack of Sieves

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 Mechanical Sieve

Stack in
Mechanical
Shaker

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Gradations - Computation
Sieve Mass Cumulative
Retained Mass Retained % Retained % Passing

9.5 0.0
4.75 6.5
2.36 127.4
1.18 103.4
0.60 72.8
0.30 64.2
0.15 60.0
0.075 83.0
Pan 22.4
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 Gradations - Computing

Cum. Wt Retained
% Retained = * 100
Original Dry Wt.

% Passing = [ 1 - Cum. Wt Retained

Original Dry Wt.
] * 100

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Gradations - Computation
Sieve Mass Cumulative
Retained Mass Retained % Retained % Passing

9.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 100.0

4.75 6.5 6.5 1.2 98.9
2.36 127.4 133.9 24.8 75.2
1.18 103.4 237.3 44.0 56.0
0.60 72.8 310.1 57.5 42.6
0.30 64.2 374.3 69.4 30.6
0.15 60.0 434.3 80.5 19.5
0.075 83.0 517.3 95.8 4.2
Pan 22.4 539.7 100.0 0.0
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Types of Gradations
* Uniformly graded
- Few points of contact
- Poor interlock (shape dependent)
- High permeability
* Well graded
- Good interlock
- Low permeability
* Gap graded
- Only limited sizes
- Good interlock
- Low permeability
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Aggregate Gradation

• Blend Size Definitions

– maximum size
– nominal maximum size
• Gradation Limits
– control points
– restricted zone

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100 Aggregate Size Definitions 100
100 99
90 89
• Nominal Maximum
72 72
65 Aggregate Size 65
48 – one size larger than the first 48
36 sieve to retain more than 10% 36
22 22
15
• Maximum Aggregate Size 15
9 – one size larger than nominal 9
4 maximum size 4

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Percent Passing
100
max density line

restricted zone

control point nom max

max size
size

0
.075 .3 2.36 4.75 9.5 12.5 19.0

Sieve Size (mm) Raised to 0.45 Power

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Superpave Aggregate Gradation
Percent Passing
100

Design Aggregate Structure

0
.075 .3 2.36 12.5 19.0
Sieve Size (mm) Raised to 0.45 Power
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Superpave Mix Size

Designations

Superpave Nom Max Size Max Size

Designation (mm) (mm)

37.5 mm 37.5 50
25 mm 25 37.5
19 mm 19 25
12.5 mm 12.5 19
9.5 mm 9.5 12.5

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 Gradations
* Considerations:
- Max. size < 1/2 AC lift thickness
- Larger max size
+ Increases strength
+ Improves skid resistance
+ Increases volume and surface area of agg
which decreases required AC content
+ Improves rut resistance
+ Increases problem with segregation of particles
- Smaller max size
+ Reduces segregation
+ Reduces road noise
+ Decreases tie wear 41
CE 518 Pavement Engineering

Target Gradation
• Acceptable gradation band specified
• Mix design selects a job mix formula (JMF) which
falls within band and meets design criteria
• Superpave
– 5 nominal sizes (37.5, 25, 19, 12.5, and 9.5 mm)
– Four sieve sizes used to set upper and lower limits
– Staying out of the restricted zone in suggested to
minimize problems with natural sands

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 Blending Stockpiles

• Basic formula for combining stockpiles to

achieve a target gradation is:

p = Aa + Bb + Cc + ….

where:
p = percent of material passing given sieve size
A, B, C, .. = percent passing given sieve for each agg.
a, b, c, … = decimal fraction of A, B, C, … to be used
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Blending Stockpiles

• Plot individual gradations

• Plot specification limits
• Can be used for initial assessment
– Can blend be made from available
materials?
– Identification of critical sieves
– Est. trial proportions

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 All possible combinations fall between A and B

Percent Passing, %
100
90
Gradation B
80
70 Control points for
12. 5 nominal max. size
60
50
40 Gradation A
30
20
10
0
0.075 0.3 1 .18 4.75 9.5 12.5 19

Sieve Size, mm
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No poss. combination of A and B will meet spec.

Percent Passing, %
100
Gradation B Gradation A
90
80
70
60
50 Control points for
12. 5 nominal max. size
40
30
20
10
0
0.075 0.3 1 .18 4.75 9.5 12.5 19

Sieve Size, mm
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All poss. combinations pass through cross-over point
Blends containing more A than B will be closer to A
Percent Passing, %
100 Gradation A
90
80
70
60
Gradation B
50
40
30
20 Control points for
12. 5 nominal max. size
10
0
0.075 0.3 1 .18 4.75 9.5 12.5 19

Sieve Size, mm
CE 518 Pavement Engineering 47

Trial and Error Steps

• Select critical sieves in blend

• Determine initial proportions which will
meet critical sieves
• Check calc. blend against specification
• Adjust if necessary and repeat above
steps

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 Blended Aggregate Specific
Gravities

• Once the percentages of the stockpiles

have been established, the combined
aggregate specific gravities can also be
calculated

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Combined Specific Gravities

1
G=
P1 + P2 + ……. Pn
100 G1 100 G2 100 Gn

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 Blending of Aggregates
• Reasons for Blending
– Obtain desirable gradation
– Single natural or quarried material not enough
– Economical to combine natural and process
materials

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Blending of Aggregates
• Numerical Method
– Trial and Error
– Basic Formula

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 Blending of Aggregates
· P = Aa + Bb + Cc + ….
– Where:
• P = % of material passing a given sieve for the
blended aggregates A, B, C, …
• A, B, C, … = % material passing a given sieve
for each aggregate A, B, C, …..
• a, b, c, …. = Proportions (decimal fractions)
of aggregates A, B, C, … to be used in
Blend

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Blending of Aggregates

Material Agg. #1 Agg. #2

% Used Blend Target
% % % %
U.S. Sieve
Passing Batch Passing Batch
3/8 “ 100 100
No. 4 90 100
No. 8 30 100
No. 16 7 88
No. 30 3 47
No. 50 1 32
No. 100 0 24
No. 200 0 10
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 Blending of Aggregates

Material Agg. #1 Agg. #2 First Try

(remember trial & error)
% Used 50 % 50 % Blend Target
% % % %
U.S. Sieve
Passing Batch Passing Batch
3/8 “ 100 50 100 100 * 0.5 = 50 100
No. 4 90 45 100 90 * 0.5 = 45 80 - 100
No. 8 30 15 100 30 * 0.5 = 15 65 - 100
No. 16 7 3.5 88 7 * 0.5 = 3.5 40 - 80
No. 30 3 1.5 47 3 * 0.5 = 1.5 20 - 65
No. 50 1 0.5 32 1 * 0.5 = 0.5 7 - 40
No. 100 0 0 24 0 * 0.5 = 50 3 - 20
No. 200 0 0 10 0 * 0.5 = 0 2 - 10
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Blending of Aggregates

Material Agg. #1 Agg. #2

% Used 50 % 50 % Blend Target
% % % %
U.S. Sieve
Passing Batch Passing Batch
3/8 “ 100 50 100 50 100 100
No. 4 90 45 100 50 95 80 - 100
No. 8 30 15 100 50 65 65 - 100
No. 16 7 3.5 88 44 47.5 40 - 80
No. 30 3 1.5 47 23.5 25 20 - 65
No. 50 1 0.5 32 16 16.5 7 - 40
No. 100 0 0 24 12 12 3 - 20
No. 200 0 0 10 5 5 2 - 10
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 Blending of Aggregates

Material Agg. #1 Agg. #2

% Used 50 % 50 % Blend Target
% % % %
U.S. Sieve
Passing Batch Passing Batch
3/8 “ 100 50 100Let’s Try 50 100 100
No. 4 90 45 100 and get
50 95 80 - 100
No. 8 30 15 100a little closer
50 65 65 - 100
No. 16 7 3.5 to
88the middle44 of 47.5 40 - 80
the target values.
No. 30 3 1.5 47 23.5 25 20 - 65
No. 50 1 0.5 32 16 16.5 7 - 40
No. 100 0 0 24 12 12 3 - 20
No. 200 0 0 10 5 5 2 - 10
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Blending of Aggregates
Material Agg. #1 Agg. #2
% Used 30 % 70 % Blend Target
% % % %
U.S. Sieve
Passing Batch Passing Batch
3/8 “ 100 30 100 70 100 100
No. 4 90 27 100 70 97 80 - 100
No. 8 30 9 100 70 79 65 - 100
No. 16 7 2.1 88 61.6 63.7 40 - 80
No. 30 3 0.9 47 32.9 33.8 20 - 65
No. 50 1 0.3 32 22.4 22.7 7 - 40
No. 100 0 0 24 16.8 16.8 3 - 20
No. 200 0 0 10 7 7 2 - 10
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