Concrete Phases

Concrete Phase

Paste Phase Aggregate Phase

 ORIGIN

SIZE

SHAPE

UNIT WEIGHT

SOURCE
CLASSIFICATION SIZE RANGE EXAMPLE FEATURES

FINE passes through Natural sand , Further described as IS:383-1970 divides

AGGREGATE 4.75mm IS sieve crushed stone sand , coarse sand sand into 4 grading
crushed gravel sand Medium sand zones I-IV
Fine sand

COARSE Aggregates retained Crushed gravel Graded coarse

AGGREGATE on 4.75mm IS sieve Naturally aggregate is
disintegrated gravel described by nominal
Partially crushed size-
stone 40mm,20mm,16mm,
12.5mm

ALL IN Naturally present Not generally used in

AGGREGATE combination of both making high quality
fine and coarse concrete
fractions
CLASSIFICATION DESCRIPTION
ROUNDED Min. voids(32-33%)
Min. ratio of surface to
volume
IRREGULAR/ Naturally irregular,rounded
PARTLY ROUNDED edges
High void percentage(35-
38%)
ANGULAR Sharp ,angular, rough
particles,
Possess well defined edges
Max. void %(38-40)
FLAKY & Flaky when least dimension
ELONGATED is less than 3/5 of mean
dimension.
Mean dimension is average
size of sieve through which
particle pass and retain.
Elongated when greatest
dimension is greater than
9/5th of mean dimension.
EXAMPLES
River or seashore gravels,
seashore sand
Pit sands & gravels, land or
dug flints
Crushed rocks-talus, screes
Laminated rocks
(presence of such particles
should be restricted to 10-
15%)
EFFECT ON BOND STRENGTH
WORKABILITY
Improves workability Less interlocking
Unsuitable for high
strength concrete
Moderate workability Better than in rounded.
Inadequate for high
strength concrete
Reduces workability Good interlocking
More cement paste & good bond
required Suitable for high strength
concrete and pavements
Reduces workability Reduces strength,
Affects the duability of
concrete adversely
FLAT & ELONGATED
PARTICLES

ANGULAR ROUND
GROUP SURFACE TEXTURE EXAMPLES
1 GLASSY Black flint
2 SMOOTH Chert , shale , marble, rhyolite
3 GRANULAR Sandstone ,oolites
4 CRYSTALLINE Fine-basalt,medium-
trachyte,limetones,dolomites,limestones;coars
e-granite,gneiss,syenite

5 HONEY COMBED & POROUS Scoria, pumice, trass

CLASSIFICATION PROPERTIES EXAMPLES FEATURES

NORMAL WEIGHT Specific gravity-2.5-2.7 Sand,gravel,basalt,quartz,s Produces concrete with

anstone,limestone,brick unit weight-23-26kN/m3
ballast. Crushing strength at 28
days-15-40MPa

HEAVY WEIGHT Specific gravity ranging Barite Concrete produced has

from 3.4-8 Goethite,haematite,ilmenit unit weight-30-57kN/m3
e,limonite,magnetite,de Drawback-not suitably
greased scrap iron, iron graded
shots

LIGHT WEIGHT Concrete produced through Diotomite,pumice,volcanic Concrete produced has

this -high permeability cinder, bloated cinder, unit weight up to 12kN/m3
Better thermal insulation sintered flyash,foamed
Improved fire resistance blast furnace slag,
Higher creep and shrinkage vermiculite
16
• The particle size distribution of an
aggregate as determined by sieve analysis
is termed as grading of aggregate.
• The grading of aggregate affects the
workability which controls water and
cement requirements, segregation and
influences the placing and finishing of
concrete.
• The grading of fine aggregates affects the
workability more as compared to the
grading of coarse aggregates
• GAP GRADING is defined as grading in
which one or more intermediate size
fractions are absent.
80mm 2.36mm
40mm 1.18mm
20mm 600µm
10mm 300µm
4.75mm 150µm

Fineness modulus is a ready index of coarseness and fineness of a material