SIEVE ANALYSIS OF FINE AND

COARSE AGGREGATES
Aggregate
Coarse aggregate:
Coarse aggregate shall be obtained from breaking
hard durable rock or gravel, 1st class bricks or Picked
Bricks. Coarse aggregate shall be clean, free from dust
and other materials. The grading of the coarse
aggregate shall be such that when combined with the
approved fine aggregates, it shall produce a workable
mixture of maximum density.
AGGREGATES WHICH ARE LARGER THAN ASTM #4
SIEVE OR 4.75 MM ARE COARSE AGGREGATES.
Aggregate

Fine aggregate:
Fine aggregates shall be angular (gritty to touch),
hard and durable, free from clay, mica and soft flaky
pieces. Sand shall be clean and free from organic
impurities.

Aggregates which are passes 4.75 mm and retain

on 0.075 mm ( ASTM #200 sieves) are fine
aggregates.
Aggregate
Pea Gravels:
Pea Gravels are natural particles ranging from 9.5 mm
or 3/8 inch to 2.36 mm or 0.093 inch.
Gravels:
Gravels are natural particles passing 75 mm
sieve but are retained on 4.75 mm sieve (No.
4 sieve). So, Sieve #4 is the demarcation line
according to ASTM. But according to
AASHTO the demarcation line between Sand
and Gravel is #10 sieve or 2.00 mm.
Gradation of Aggregates

Gradation refers to the grain-size composition of a

material or the amount of various particle sizes.
Gravels and sands are either well-graded or poorly-
graded.
Well-graded materials have various amounts of
larger and smaller particles such that the voids
between the larger particles can be filled with smaller
and smaller particles to make a tight, dense and
stable mass.
Gradation of Aggregates
Poorly-graded or uniformly graded materials may
have all the particles of nearly same particle size, or
some of the intermediate sizes are missing, such that
it does not meet the requirements of a well-graded
material.
The term “gap-graded” is used to indicate an
aggregate in which some of the intermediate sizes are
missing.
Gradation of aggregates of Concrete work and Pavement work
according to LGED Specifications are given below:

Concrete Works:
Grading for nominal size coarse aggregate shall comply with the
following ASTM C-33 standard gradations:
20mm nominal size Coarse Aggregate
Sieve Size (mm) % Passing by Weight
25 100
19 90-100
9.50 20-55
4.75 0-10
2.36 0-5
Sand shall be well graded from coarse to fine within
the limits given below or shall conform to the specified
Fineness Modulus.
Fine aggregate for concrete
Sieve Size (mm) % Passing by Weight
9.5 100
4.75 95-100
2.36 80-100
1.18 50-85
600 25-60
300 10-30
150 2-10
Sieve Analysis of Fine and Coarse
Aggregates

Determination of Fineness Modulus (FM) of Sand:

Sand shall be well graded from coarse to fine within
the limits or shall conform to the specified fineness
Modulus (FM).
Sieve:
A sieve is a wire screen with uniform, specified
openings. Sieve analysis is performed by shaking the
sand through a stack of standard sieves.
Apparatus:
Suitable sizes of sieves for testing the soil: #4, #8, #16,
#30, #50, #100, #200
Brush for cleaning the sieves
1000 gms. capacity balance of 0.1 gm. sensitivity .
 Oven for drying soil (1100c ± 50c)
Large pan for keeping soil
Wooden hammer for breaking soil clods.
Figure given at left side shows the arrangement of
sieves used for actual test. The arrangement is such
that the sieve with the largest opening is placed at the
top followed by next finer sieve and so on.
Sieve Analysis

A Set of Sieves
 Sieve Analysis

A Set of Sieves and Mechanical Shaker

Procedure:
Dry the sample to constant weight at a temperature
110 0 ± 50 c;
 Select with care a test sample representative of the
sand to be tested, break the Sand into its individual
particles with the fingers or wooden hammer.
Weigh to 0.1 gm a specimen of approximately
100/500 gm of dried sand.
Clean the sieves and weigh each sieve to 0.1 gm.
Sieve the sand through a nest of sieves by hand
shaking using motion of horizontal rotations or by a
mechanical shaker, if available.
Procedure

(Approximately sample amount will be 100 gm.

when at least 95% passing a 2.36mm (#8) sieve and
500 gm. when at least 85% passing a 4.75mm(#4)
sieve & more than 5% retained on a 2.36 mm sieve.)
Weigh to 0.1 gm each sieve and the pan with the
sand retained on them.
 Subtract the weight of sieve from the weight of sieve
with retained sand to obtain the weight of sand
retained on each sieve.
Procedure

Add weight of sand retained in each sieve and check

against the total weight of sand taken.
 Prepare a table similar to given table and enter all
data in it. Calculate the percentage finer.
The recording of data for sieve analysis of sand
sample and related calculations are shown in table
given below:
Fineness Modulus (F M)
Is the sum of cumulative %weight retain on the
following sieve #4,#8,#16,#30,#50 & #100
divided by 100
 Fineness modulus (FM) =
 Cumulative % retained up to sieve #100/ 100
 Determination FM
Sieve NO. Weight % Wt Cumulativ % Passing
Retain Retain e % Wt.
Retained Retained
#4 0 0 0 100
#8 0.5 0.25 0.25 100
#16 2.5 1.25 1.5 98
#30 17 8.5 10 90
#50 30 15 25 75
#100 100 50 75 25
#200 30 15 90 10
Pan 20 10
FM =(0.25+1.5+10+25+75)/100
=111.75/100
=1.12
Combining of fine Aggregate on the basis of FM

The number of parts R of fine sand to be mixed with 1

part of a coarse sand in order to obtain a sand of
desired FM (say 1.8) could be determine
approximately by the following formula :
Fc - F r
FrR=
- Ff
Where, FC and Ff are the F.M. of coarse and fine
sand respectively and ‘Fr’ is the required or desired
F.M. of the mix.
Combining of Aggregate to have Desired
Gradation:
While there is no specified grading, it may be desirable to proportion
the available material in such a way that the grading of the combined
aggregate is similar to the specified one. This can be done by
calculation or by graphically.
By Calculation (through Trial-and-Error)

The basic formula for combining two aggregates is:

P = Axa + Bxb ---------(1)
Since a+b =1 , then a=1-b , Substituting this into equation-1
and solving for ‘b’ we have,
P-A

b = B-A ------------------------------------------------------------------------ (2)

P-B

A-B
An expression for ‘a ’ can also be found as a = ----------(3)
 Example of Proportioning Two Aggregates by Calculation
(Trial-and-Error)
Sieve 19. 12.5 9.5 #4 # 8 # 30 # 50 # #
(mm, 0 100 200
No.)

Specifi 100 80- 70-90 50-70 35-50 18-29 13-23 8-16 4-10
100
cation
Aggre
100 90 59 16 3.2 1.1 0 0 0
gate-A
Aggre 100 100 100 96 82 51 36 21 9.2
gate-B
b. First trial combination:
For sieve size (#8)

P-A 42.5 - 3.2

b = = = 0.5, a= 1- 0.5 = 0.5
B-A 82 - 3.2

Sieve 19. 12.5 9.5 #4 #8 # 30 # 50 # #

(mm, 0 100 200
No.)
0.5x A 50 45.0 29.5 8.0 1.6 0.6 0 0 0

50 50.0 50.0 48.0 41.0 25.5 18.0 10.5 4.6

0.5x B

100 95.0 79.5 56.0 42.6 26.1 18.0 10.5 4.6

Total

Specifi 100 80-100 70-90 50-70 35-50 18-29 13-23 8-16 4-10
cation
c. Second trial combination:

Passing (#200) sieve size is low, so increase ‘b’ to 0.55, ‘a’ to 0.45
Sieve 19. 12.5 9.5 #4 #8 # 30 # 50 # #
(mm, 0 100 200
No.)
0.45x A 45 40.5 26.6 7.2 1.4 0.5 0 0 0

0.55x B 55 55.0 55.0 52.8 45.1 28.0 19.8 11.5 5.1

Total 100 95.5 81.6 60.0 46.5 28.5 19.8 11.5 5.1

Specific 100 80- 70-90 50-70 35-50 18-29 13-23 8-16 4-10
ation 100
d. Third trial combination:

Passing (#30) sieve size is High, Let ‘b’ = 0.52, ‘a’ = 0.48

Sieve 19. 12.5 9.5 #4 #8 # 30 # 50 # #

(mm, 0 100 200
No.)
0.45x A 48 43.2 28.3 7.7 1.5 0.5 0 0 0

0.55x B 52 52 52 49.9 42.6 26.5 18.7 10.9 4.8

Total 100 95.2 80.3 57.6 44.1 27.0 18.7 10.9 4.8

Specific 100 80- 70-90 50-70 35-50 18-29 13-23 8-16 4-10
ation 100