Civil Engineering Materials

Lecture No.4

Civil Engineering Department

University of Lahore
Lahore
 Building Stones
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 Building Stones
Natural construction material used for different components of
building
Stones used in most historical places
Pyramids of Egypt
Taj Mahal of Agra, India
Great wall of China
Greek and Roman structures
Quaids Mausoleum in Karachi
Shahi mosque in Lahore
Forts at Rohtas, Lahore
Grand Trunk Road
Lloyds Barrage at Sukkur

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 Building Stones
Stone as building material lost its
importance due to
Advent of cement and steel less bulky,
stronger and more durable
Structural strength can not be rationally
analyzed
Not cheap and conveniently available
Transportation difficulties
Dressing problems
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 Building Stone
Stone: A construction material derived
from rocks in the earths crust and mixture
of two or more minerals.
Mineral is a substance which is formed by
the natural inorganic process and
possesses a definite chemical composition
and molecular structure.

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 Civil Engineering Uses
Construction of residential and public buildings
Construction of dams, weirs, harbors, bridge
abutments, etc
Face work of structures for appearance and
ornamental value
Road metal and railway ballast
Aggregate for concrete
Stone dust as substitute for sand
Thin slabs for roofing, flooring and pavements
Limestone for manufacture of lime, cement, etc

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 Classification of Rocks
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 Classification of Rocks
Rocks

Geological Physical Chemical Practical

Granite,
Igneous Stratified Argillaceous
Basalts

Sedimentary Un-Stratified Siliceous Marble

Limestone,
Metamorphic Foliated Calcareous Sandstone,
Slate

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 Classification of Rocks
Geological classification
Igneous rocks (primary, un-stratified, eruptive)
cooled down molten volcanic lava (magma).
Basalts and granites.
Sedimentary rocks (aqueous, stratified)
gradually deposited disintegrated rocks. Sand
stones and lime stones
Metamorphic rocks transformed due to
great heat and pressure. Granite to gneiss,
lime stone to marble, shale to slate

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 Classification of Rocks
Physical classification
Stratified rocks showing distinct layer along
which it can be easily split into thin slab. Slate,
sandstone, lime stone
Un-stratified rocks which is show no sign of
stratificaton, cannot be easily split into slabs.
Granite, basalt, trap
Foliated rocks having tendency to split up
only in a definite direction

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 Classification of Rocks
Chemical Classification
Siliceous rocks containing silica SiO2 (sand)
and silicates. Granite, basalt, trap, quartzite,
gneiss, syenite, etc
Argillaceous rocks containing clay or
alumina Al2O3. Slate, laterite, etc
Calcareous rocks containing calcium
carbonate or lime. Limestone, marble,
dolomite, etc

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 Classification of Rocks
Practical Classification
Granites
Basalts
Marbles
Sandstones
Slates
Etc, etc

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 Stone Mountain, Atlanta, USA
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Igneous Rocks
 Red Granite

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 Vesicular Basalt

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Sedimentary Rocks
 Old Red Sandstone

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 Basalt and Sandstone

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 Limestone and Slate

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Metamorphic Rocks
 Green Slate

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 Gneiss

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 Granitic Gneisses

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Miscellaneous Sedimentary
Material
 Glacially Transported Potpourri

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 Glacially Transported Potpourri

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 Chert Nodules

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 Stone Masonry

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 Characteristics of Good
Building Stones
Appearance & color uniform color, lighter shades
preferred, free from clay holes, bands or spots
Structure Not dull in appearance, crystalline
homogenous close grained is good, stratification should
not be visible, fine grained for carving
Weight heavier are compact, less porous, good for
hydraulic structures
Strength generally compressive strength needed,
igneous rock stones are stronger
Hardness resistance to abrasion, friction and wear.
Hardness scale 1 to 10
Toughness Withstand impact, vibrations, moving loads
Dressing uniform texture and softness for fine surface
finish
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 Characteristics of Good
Building Stones
Porosity and Absorption exposed surface absorbs rain
water forming acids causing crumbling action. Cyclic
freezing and thawing of pore water
Seasoning hardening and weathering affect due to
evaporation of quarry sap and formation of crystalline
film. 6 to 12 months for proper seasoning
Weathering resistance to action of weather
Resistance to fire free from calcium carbonate or
oxides of iron
Durability compact, homogenous and less absorptive
is more durable
Cost quarrying, transportation, dressing and
installation

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 Mohs Hardness Scale
1 Talc, scratched easily by thumb nail
2 Gypsum, scratched by thumb nail
3 Calcite, scratched not by thumb nail but by
knife
4 Fluorite, cut by knife with difficulty
5 Apatite, cut by knife with difficulty more than 4
6 Orthoclase, cut by knife with great difficulty
7 Quartz, not scratched by steel, scratches
glass
8 Topaz
9 Corundum Sapphire
10 Diamond

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 Mohs Hardness Scale

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 Mohs Hardness Scale

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 Tests of Stones
Weathering test of natural building stones
Durability test of natural building stones
Water absorption and porosity test
Test for determination of true specific
gravity
Compressive strength test

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 Selection of Sample for Tests
A truly representative sample of grade of stone should
be selected
Sample may be selected from quarried stone or natural
rock
Separate samples weighing at least 25 kg each shall be
collected from differing strata
Test pieces for toughness or compressive strength test
shall be at least 10.0 x 12.5 x 7.5 cm in size
Test pieces shall be free from seams or fractures
In case of field stones and boulders separate samples
shall be selected of all classes of stones based on visual
inspection
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 Weathering Test
Specimen
5 cm diameter, 5 cm high cylinders
5 cm cubes
Smooth finished, edges rounded to 0.3 cm
Three test specimens oven dried at 105 5C for 24 hrs
and cooled in desiccators down to room temp 20 to 30C
W1 weight of cooled and dried test piece, weighed to
nearest 0.01 gm
Specimens submerged in water for 24 hrs at room temp
W2 immersed and freely suspended sample weight
Remove the specimen from water, wipe off surface water
W3 weight after removal from water
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 Weathering Test
Place the specimen in a glass dish in solution of
25 ml of water and 2 gm of powdered gypsum
Specimen dish kept in oven at 105 5C for 5
hrs till gypsum powder becomes dry
Specimen cooled down to room temp 25 5C
Heating and cooling cycle is repeated 30 times
Specimen removed and cleaned with wire brush
Specimen kept immersed in water for 24 hrs
W4 weight of sample in air after 30 cycles
W5 weight of sample freely suspended,
immersed in water
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 Weathering Test
W3 W1 W W1
A1 100 and A2 4 100
W1 W1
W4 W3
Increase in Absorption % A2 A1 100
W1
W3 W2 W4 W5
V1 and V2
d d
(W4 W5 ) (W3 W2 )
Increase in Volume % 100
W3 W2
A1: Original absorption of specimen on 24 hr immersion
in water
A2: Final absorption after 30 cycles
V1: Original volume after 24 hrs immersion in water
V2: final volume after 30 cycles
d: density of water at observation temperature
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 Durability Test
Specimen
5 cm diameter, 5 cm high cylinders or 5 cm cubes
Smooth finished, edges rounded to 0.3 cm
At least three test samples dried for 24 hrs and
weighed as W1
Samples suspended in solution of 14% sodium
sulphate decahydrate (density 1.055 kg/m3) for
18 hrs at room temperature
Samples air dried for 30 minutes
Samples now oven dried for 24 hrs at 105 5C

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 Durability Test
Samples cooled down to room temperature to
complete one cycle
Weight W2 at the end of every 5th cycle noted
and 30 cycles completed
Durability expressed as

W1 W2
Change in Weight 100
W1

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Water Absorption and Porosity Test
Sample preparation
Sufficient material is crushed
Material passing 20 mm sieve is retained
Material washed to remove dust
About 1 kg material is immersed and soaked in
distilled water at room temperature for 24 hrs
Entrapped air is removed by vigorous rotational
motion
Sample taken out of water and spread on cloth
exposed to atmosphere in shade for ten minutes
Dry the Surface of test pieces dried with cloth

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Water Absorption and Porosity Test
On drying of surface, sample weight W1
recorded
Distilled water added to sample in a graduated
glass cylinder in portions of 100 ml till level of
water reaches 1000 ml mark
Entrapped air is removed after each addition of
water
Total quantity of added water is recorded as W2
Sample taken out of cylinder and dried in
desiccators at 100C for 24 hrs
W3 recorded when sample is cooled down

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Water Absorption and Porosity Test
W1 W3
Water Absorption 100
W3
W1 W3
Apparant Porosity 100
1000 W2
W3
Apparant Specific Gravity
1000 W2
W1: Initial weight of dried sample
W2: Weight of water consumed in saturation
W3: Final weight of sample after drying for 24 hrs
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 True Specific Gravity Test
Crush 0.5 kg of thoroughly washed specimen to 3 mm
size, mix and make samples of 50 gm each
Sample ground in agate mortar to pass 150 microns
sieve
Sample is dried at 100C, cooled in desiccators
Specific gravity bottle is cleaned, washed, dried, cooled
and weighed (W1)
About 15 gms sample placed in specific gravity bottle
closed with stopper and whole weighed as W2
Three fourths of specific gravity bottle filled with distilled
water

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 True Specific Gravity Test
Bottle boiled for 10 minutes while removing entrapped air
Bottle cooled to room temperature, filled with water,
stoppered and weighed as W3
Bottle emptied, washed, filled with only distilled water,
stoppered and weighed at room temperature as W4

W2 W1
True Specific Gravity
(W4 W2 ) (W3 W2 )
True Specific Gravity Apparant Specific Gravity
True Porosity
True Specific Gravity

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 Test for Compressive Strength
Specimen Preparation
Cube size 5 cm, cylinder diameter 5 cm, height 5 cm
Load bearing surfaces finished as nearly true, parallel and
perpendicular planes as possible
Loaded face dimensions measured to nearest 0.2 mm
Specimens kept immersed in water at 20 to 30C for 24 hrs for
saturated condition testing
Specimens oven dried at 105 5C for 24 hrs and cooled down
to room temp for dry testing
Testing load gradually increased @ 140 kg/cm2 per
minute until break down
Max load applied divided by area of bearing surface is
taken as the compressive strength of specimen
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Quarrying of Stones
 Quarrying and Dressing
Quarrying: An art of extracting from the
rock beds stones of different varieties
used for general building work and broken
stones for roads and concrete work, etc
Quarry: The place from stone is obtained
by digging or blasting etc

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 Quarrying Methods
Digging or Excavating Method. Stones occurring
as detached nodules may be dug using manual
methods like crowbars etc
Heating Method. Rock surface is heated for
several hours resulting into unequal expansion
and crushing of rock into small pieces
Wedging Method. Layered rock is split at
cleavage or seam using steel wedges and pins
Blasting Method. Hard and compact rock is
blasted out using explosives techniques
comprising boring, charging, tamping and firing

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Quarrying
Tools

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 Stone Dressing
Pitched faced dressed 2.5 cm edges dressed and
made square
Hammer dressed, hammer faced, quarry faced or rustic
faced dressed like a brick with 2.5 cm rough edges for
use in masonry
Rock faced and chisel drafted chisel draft of 2.5 cm
along edges
Rough tooled edges and corners made perfect square
and true
Punched dressed rough tooled improved up to 2 mm
Fine tooled fair smooth surface for ashler masonry

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 Deterioration of Stones
Rain.
Physical Action. Disintegration, erosion,
transportation due to alternate wetting and drying
Chemical Action. Decomposition, oxidation and
hydration of minerals due to acids formed with rain
water
Frost. Pierces the pores, freezes, expands and
creates cracks
Wind. Abrasion due to wind carried dust
Temperature Changes. Expansion and
contraction affects on minerals of different
coefficients of linear expansion
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 Deterioration of Stones
Vegetable growth. Roots of trees and
weeds in cracks and fissures
Mutual decay
Chemical Agents. Smokes, fumes, acids
and acid fumes from atmosphere
Lichens. Destroy lime stones. Molluses
make series of parallel vertical holes

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 Preservation of Stones
Stones should be kept dry with blow lamp and
applied coat of paraffin, linseed oil, light paint,
etc
Stones should be washed with water and steam
to remove dirt and salt
In industrial towns stones are preserved by
application of solution of baryta, Ba(OH)2 to form
insoluble barium sulphate
Preservative treatment only slows down the
decay but does not stop it. All have harmful side
effects also

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 Selection of Stones
Cost quarrying and cutting, dressing,
transportation charges, etc
Fashion & Ornamental value including
color, shade, etc specially after prolong
usage
Durability (usually overlooked and
disregarded), resistance to fire and
weathering

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 Selection of Stones
Heavy engineering works bridges, piers, abutments,
break waters, docks, light houses granite (biotite,
hornblende, tourmaline)
Buildings facing the sea granite, fine grained
sandstone
Buildings in industrial area granite, compact sandstone
Arches fine grained sandstone
Building face work marble, close grained sandstone
Fire resisting structure compact sandstone
Road metal and aggregate for concrete granite, basalt,
quartzite
Railway ballast coarse grained sandstone, quartzite
Electrical switch board slate, marble
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 Artificial Stone
Definition - Building material made with cement,
sand and natural aggregates of crushed stone
for use in place of natural stone
Properties
Made with white cement, sand and natural
aggregates of crushed stone
Molded into most intricate forms
Cast into any size
Reinforced to desired higher strength
Desired coloring may be achieved
Desired finish may be achieved
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 Artificial Stone
Concrete block. Cast in molds for steps,
window sills, masonry work, etc
Ransom stone. Soda silicate plus cement
for decorative flooring
Victoria stone. Granite pieces immersed in
soda silicate for two months
Bituminous stone. Provide noise, wear and
dust resistant stone surfaces
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 Artificial Stone
Imperial stone. Crushed granite plus cement,
molded, steam cured
Artificial marble. Pre-cast or cast-in-situ.
Portland gypsum cement and sand. Cast blocks
treated with magnesium fluorite, washed, paper
wrapped, machine emery ground, polished and
finally rubbed with ball of wool moistened with
alum water
Garlic stone. Iron slag and cement mixture
molded into flag stones, surface drains, etc

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 Comparison of Stones and
Bricks
Stone Bricks
Natural material Manufactured from clay
Heavier Lighter
High dressing cost Moldable to any shape
Costly except in hilly areas Cheaper except in hilly
Less porous, good for areas
hydraulic structures More porous, needs water
Greater strength proof treatment
Better heat conductor Reasonable for normal
Weather resistant loads
Superior quality stone is Poor heat conductor
monumental and Needs pointing and
decorative plastering
Architectural effect is
achievable
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Materials
 Any Questions ???

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 Tests of Stones
Hardness test
Crushing test
Impact test
Fire resistance test
Attrition test
Acid test
Water absorption test
Smiths test
Crystallization test
Microscopic test
Freezing and thawing test
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 Hardness Test
Mohs scale of hardness
1 Talc, scratched easily by thumb nail
2 Gypsum, scratched by thumb nail
3 Calcite, scratched not by thumb nail but by
knife
4 Fluorite, cut by knife with difficulty
5 Apatite, cut by knife with difficulty more than 4
6 Orthoclase, cut by knife with great difficulty
7 Quartz, not scratched by steel, scratches
glass
8 Topaz
9 Sapphire
10 Diamond
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 Hardness Test
Coefficient of hardness
Sample 25 mm dia cylinder, 25 mm height
Rotated @ 28 rpm in Dorrys testing machine
Coarse sand sprinkled for 1000 rotations
Coefficient = 20 (loss in weight in gms)/3

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 Crushing Test
Sample 40 mm x 40 mm x 40 mm cube
Saturation in water for 72 hours
Axial loading on cube @ 13.7 N/mm per minute
Maximum load at which specimen crushes is the
crushing strength per unit area (N/mm)
Limestone 50
Sandstone 70
Granite 70 to 130
Slate 70 to 200
Basalt 150 to 200
Gneiss 200 to 400

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 Impact Test
Specimen 25 mm diameter cylinder, 25 mm height
Impact testing machine hammer and anvil
20 N hammer falls axially in vertical direction on
specimen
Blow height
First blow 1 cm
Second blow 2 cm
Third blow 3 cm
nth blow n cm
nth blow breaking the sample has toughness index value
as n

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 Attrition Test
Also know as abrasion test, determines the rate
of wear of stones used in road construction
Devals attrition testing machine
Test details
60 mm size pieces of sample stone weighing 50 N
placed in two 200 mm and 340 mm cylinders of
machine
Cylinders rotated for 5 hours @ 30 rpm
Contents sieved through 1.5 mm sieve, and material
retained is weighed
Percentage wear = loss in weight / initial weight x 100
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 Water Absorption Test
A 0.5 N cube of given sample prepared and weighed as
W1 N
Immersed in water for 24 hours and weighed as W2 N
Cube suspended freely in water and weighed as W3 N
Cube kept in boiling water for 5 hours and weighed as
W4 N
%age absorption by weight = (W2 W1)/W1 x 100
%age absorption by volume = (W2 W1)/(W2 W3) x
100
%age porosity by volume = (W4 W1)/(W2 W3) x 100
Saturation Coefficient = water absorption / total porosity
= (W2 W1)/(W4 W1) x 100

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 Miscellaneous Tests
Fire Resistance Test
Stone free from calcium carbonate can resist fire
Few drops of dilute sulphuric acid dropped over stone
if produces bubbles detects presence of calcium
carbonate
Acid Test
Stone is kept for one week in 1% strong solution of
sulphuric acid and hydrochloric acid. High alkaline
and lime content stones loose material

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 Miscellaneous Tests
Smiths Test
Indicates presence of earthly matter
Sample broken into small pieces in put into clean
water and shaken vigorously
Dirty color shows presence of earthly matter
Crystallization Test
Shows durability or weathering quality
Sample of stone immersed in solution of sodium
sulphate and dried in hot air
Wetting and drying done for two hours and difference
in weight recorded

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 Miscellaneous Tests
Microscopic Test
Mineral constituents
Texture of stone
Average grain size
Nature of cementing material
Existence of fissures, pores, veins and shakes
Freezing and Thawing Test
Sample of stone immersed in water for 24 hours
Sample placed in freezing mixture at -12 C for 24
hours
Sample thawed in shade at room temperature
Procedure repeated several times and behavior noted
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