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Gradation Is Defined As The Distribution of Particle Sizes Expressed As A Percent of The Total Weight

1. Particle size distribution, also known as gradation, is an important property of aggregates that affects many characteristics of bituminous mixtures like stiffness, stability, durability, permeability, workability, fatigue resistance, friction and resistance to moisture damage. 2. Sieve analysis is performed on aggregates to determine gradation and provide an indirect measure of workability and average particle size. The process involves mechanically shaking a sample through a nested stack of sieves to separate particles by size, then calculating the percentage retained and passing each sieve. 3. Gradation curves created from sieve analysis data are used to check specification compliance and predict production trends, and fineness modulus values provide a single number to characterize whether an aggregate

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Anfrett E. Banggollay
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72 views4 pages

Gradation Is Defined As The Distribution of Particle Sizes Expressed As A Percent of The Total Weight

1. Particle size distribution, also known as gradation, is an important property of aggregates that affects many characteristics of bituminous mixtures like stiffness, stability, durability, permeability, workability, fatigue resistance, friction and resistance to moisture damage. 2. Sieve analysis is performed on aggregates to determine gradation and provide an indirect measure of workability and average particle size. The process involves mechanically shaking a sample through a nested stack of sieves to separate particles by size, then calculating the percentage retained and passing each sieve. 3. Gradation curves created from sieve analysis data are used to check specification compliance and predict production trends, and fineness modulus values provide a single number to characterize whether an aggregate

Uploaded by

Anfrett E. Banggollay
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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1.

Gradation is defined as the distribution of particle sizes expressed as a percent of


the total weight. If the specific gravities of the aggregates used are similar, the
gradation in volume will be similar to the gradation in weight. Roberts et al. (1996)
suggested that gradation is perhaps the most important property which affects
almost all the important properties of a bituminous mixture, including stiffness,
stability, durability, permeability, workability, fatigue resistance, frictional
resistance, and resistance to moisture damage.
Bituminous mixture is composed of approximately 95%, by weight, or 80%, by volume, mineral
aggregate. Therefore it is important to see how aggregate gradation can affect the fundamental
properties of bituminous mixture. a satisfactory bituminous surface could be constructed
almost without regard to aggregate gradation
if the bitumen content were adjusted for the particular aggregate and gradation. . . . Gradation
is important for workability, reduced permeability, economy....as the stability is also
influenced by cohesion, any reduction in fines tends to reduce cohesion and influence
permeability.
It might be reasonable to believe that the best gradation is one that produces the
maximum density. This would involve a particle arrangement where smaller particles
are packed between the larger particles, which reduces the void space between
particles. minimum amount of void space is necessary to:Provide adequate volume for
the binder (asphalt binder or portland cement) to occupy
2.The size of cement particles directly affects the hydration, setting and hardening, strength and
heat of hydration. The finer the cement particles are, the larger the total surface area is and the
bigger the area contacting with water is.
- Typical particle sizes in portland cement vary from <1 μm to 100 μm in diameter.
Particle size influences the hydration rate and strength; it is also a valuable indicator for
predicting cement quality and performance. Particle size Distribution affects fresh and
hardened concrete properties . It has been reported that a wider size distribution
increases the packing density of the system and effectively reduces water demand.
Consequently, it is expected that increasing the packing density would have a positive
contribution to strength gain potential. The effect of fineness is also extended to the
amount of heat generated by portland cement, which increases with increasing
fineness.
- Base course materials could experience durability issues such as particle size reduction
(degradation) as a result of disintegration and degradation due to factors such as heavy
loads and freeze/thaw cycles, which is more significant when the aggregate material
quality is poor.
-  The maximum aggregate size is important to control stability, skid resistance, and
compactibility of the mixture. A larger maximum size aggregate produces a higher
stability and usually requires less asphalt content. The larger size aggregate also
provides for improved skid resistance. Compaction of thin layers is difficult when the
maximum aggregate size is too small. The compacted lift thickness should be at least
twice the maximum aggregate size.
1. 3. Aggregate blending is a process that blends available aggregates to
create a blend that meets gradation specifications while minimizing the
unit cost of the blend.
A known weight of material, the amount being determined by the largest size of aggregate, is
placed upon the top of a group of nested sieves (the top sieve has the largest screen openings
and
the screen opening sizes decrease with each sieve down to the bottom sieve which has the
smallest opening size screen for the type of material specified) and shaken by mechanical
means
for a period of time. After shaking the material through the nested sieves, the material retained
on each of the sieves is weighed.
The cumulative method requires that each sieve beginning at the top be placed in a previously
weighed pan (known as the tare weight), weighed, the next sieve's contents added to the pan,
and
the total weighed. This is repeated until all sieves and the bottom pan have been added and
weighed. The codes of practice specify a certain percentage to be retained on each
sieve, the percentage passing is calculated from the cumulative percentage retained.
In case aggregate not having required percentage passing for any particular sieve,
different sizes of aggregates can be mixed to make it a well graded aggregate.

Discussion
Sieve analysis is performed on coarse and fine aggregates to in order to check their gradation.
This gradation gives an indirect measure if the workability and average particle size. SiThe sieve
analysis, commonly known as the gradation test, is a basic essential test for all
aggregate technicians. The sieve analysis determines the gradation (the distribution of
aggregate
particles, by size, within a given sample) in order to determine compliance with design,
production control requirements, and verification specifications. The gradation data may be
used
to calculate relationships between various aggregate or aggregate blends, to check compliance
with such blends, and to predict trends during production by plotting gradation curves
graphically, to name just a few uses. Used in conjunction with other tests, the sieve analysis is a
very good quality control and quality acceptance tool.
Procedure Overview
A known mass of material is placed on top of a group of nested sieves
(arranged in order of decreasing size from top to bottom) and mechanically
shaken for a designated period of time. After shaking is complete, the
operator weighs the material retained on each of the sieves using one of two
methods:
 Cumulative method – Each sieve fraction, beginning with the coarsest,
is placed in a previously tared pan and weighed. This process is
repeated until all fractions and the bottom pan have been added and
weighed. This is a good time-saving option since you don’t have to
empty out or tare the pan on the scale.
 Fractional method – The operator weighs the contents of each sieve
fraction separately, waiting to discard material until the entire test is
complete.
The technician then calculates the amount retained and passing the sieve to
the nearest 0.1% by the total mass. The calculation is performed as follows:
 Cumulative method – As each retained fraction is added, divide the
cumulative mass by the total mass of the sample and multiply by 100
to calculate the percent retained. Subtract the cumulative percent
retained on a given sieve from 100 to calculate percent passing.
 Fractional method – Divide the mass retained on each sieve by the
total and multiply by 100 to calculate the percent retained. Calculate
percent passing by subtracting the percent retained on the sieve
nested beneath.
Gradation, or particle size distribution, is the dispersal of individual particle
sizes across the entire sample. Aggregate gradation is typically reported in
graphical form by plotting each of the particle sizes on a semi-logarithmic
chart and drawing a best-fit curve between the points.
The full procedure is outlined in ASTM C136 (AASHTO T-27)

Fineness modulus It is the cumulative percentage retained on standard sieve 150μm or sieves
No 100 and above divided by 100. It is a single factor or an empirical number which we get from
the results of sieve analysis. The value of FM will not change if we add non standard sieves in
standard set of sieves. The information obtained from fineness modulus is helpful in the
following ways; Sieve Analysis
1-      Fineness modulus tells us directly whether the material is well-graded or gap-graded.
2-      Fineness modulus gives us an overall idea whether the material is fine or coarse. Higher 
the value of FM ,coarser will be the aggregate. Sieve Analysis
3-      It also indicates the surface area of the particles. Lower the surface area of the aggregate,
the required amount of fresh cement paste to cover the aggregate particles will be less and
thus less water is required.
4-      Larger value of FM is preferred for fine aggregates. For a good fine aggregate, the FM
should be between 2.3 and 3.1 (ASTM Range for fine aggregates).
5-      A FM of 4 can be interpreted to means that the fourth sieve from bottom i.e. sieve No. 16
is the average size of the aggregate particles in the given sample. Sieve No 4 is the dividing line
between coarse and fine aggregate.
ii-                  Well graded coarse aggregates of large size will reduce shrinkage of concrete by
50% Sieve Analysis
 the lower the fineness modulus, the finer the particles will be, and the higher the fineness
modulus, the coarser they will be.26 Aug 2019

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