Brief Guide to Absolute and Bulk Volume Blend

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Concept and Calculations

DTM Dec 06
 Outlook
• Bulk and Absolute Volume Concepts
• Absolute Volume and Density Calculation

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• Bulk Volume and Density Estimation
• SlurryDesigner* Approach and Output
• Understanding Bulk Volume
• More Useful Information

DTM Dec 06
 Bulk and Absolute Volumes
Bulk Volume : The volume occupied by a certain weight of dry material
including void spaces between solid particles.

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CEMENT 1 Sack = 1 cubic foot (ft3) = 94 pounds

Absolute Volume : The volume occupied by the same weight of material,

less the void spaces between particles.

DTM Dec 06

This slide was taken from “Absolute Volume Calculation “ Training Presentation, which can be found at Content ID:3936332
 going further on Absolute Volume Basics…

AsBulk
you Volume : The volume occupied by a certain weight of dry material
ALL know !
density = mass / volume, and volume
including = massbetween
void spaces / density solid particles.
Therefore, the Absolute Volume of 1 unit mass of a specific material is nothing else than the inverse of its
density. In other words, Absolute Volume of a material can be determined by measuring its SG (specific

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gravity) in the lab with a Pycnometer.
CEMENT 1 Sack = 1 cubic foot (ft3) = 94 pounds

Absolute Volume : The volume occupied by the same weight of material,

less the void spaces between particles.

DTM Dec 06
 going further on Absolute Volume and Density Basics…
From the i-Handbook:

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Its inverse
Absolute Volume of 1 unit mass of a specific
material is nothing else than the inverse of its 1 / 0.00506 = 197.6
density… But, is this useful for bulk
operations in the field ???
DTM Dec 06
 Example - Blend Absolute Volume and Density Calculation
Blend Abs. Volume = SUM[%BWOBi x Abs. Vol.i (cuft/lb)]

Blend Density = 1 / SUM[%BWOBi x Abs. Vol.i (cuft/lb)]

For instance, for a LiteCRETE*
LiteCRETE* 12.5ppg
with SVF = 55% From Handbook or i-
i-Handbook:
Handbook
%BVOB %BWOB Abs. Volume (cuft/lb)

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D124 50.50 19.86 D124 0.02135
G 39.50 66.25 G 0.00500

D178 10.00 13.89 D178 0.00604

Blend Abs. Volume = 19.86%x0.02135 + 66.25%x0.0050 + 13.89%x0.00604 =0.00839cuft/lb

Blend Density = 1 / 0.00839 cuft/lb = 119.19lb/cuft 1.9 SG

Absolute Volume / Density do NOT tell us how much blend we can p place
lace in a silo !
Remember that Absolute Volume / Density “assumes” that there is NOT air at ALL within
the particles, which in reality NEVER happens !
Absolute Volume / Density are NO useful for bulk operations in the
the field
DTM Dec 06
going further on Bulk Volume Basics…
Bulk Volume : The volume occupied by a certain weight of dry material
including void spaces between solid particles.

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1 Sack = 1 cubic foot (ft3) = 94 pounds
CEMENT

Bulk Volume is used to estimate how much

material/blend can be placed inside a bulk
container (i.e.: silo, cutting bottle, etc).
Bulk Volume or Bulk Density can be estimated in
the lab by placing the material/blend in a
graduated cylinder and measuring its volume
and weight.
(density = mass / volume)

DTM Dec 06

This slide was taken from “Absolute Volume Calculation “ Training Presentation, which can be found at Content ID:3936332
 Example - Blend Bulk Volume and Density Calculation
Bulk Volume = SUM[%BWOBi x Bulk Vol.i (cuft/lb)]

Bulk Density = 1 / SUM[%BWOBi x Bulk Vol.i (cuft/lb)]

For instance, for a LiteCRETE*
12.5ppg with SVF = 55% From Handbook or i-Handbook:

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%BVOB %BWOB Bulk. Volume (cuft/lb)
D124 50.50 19.86 D124 0.04171
G 39.50 66.25 G 0.01064

D178 10.00 13.89 D178 0.01430

Blend Bulk Volume = 19.86%x0.04171 + 66.25%x0.01064 + 13.89%x0.01430 = 0.01732cuft/lb

Blend Bulk Density = 1 / 0.01732 cuft/lb = 57.7 lb/cuft

This value might be used as reference in order to estimate how many

many lb of this
LiteCRETE blend can be placed per cuft of bulk container !
DTM Dec 06
 SlurryDesigner* Output
Bulk. Density Min is the Bulk Density of the
blend as calculated on previous slide. (can be
used as reference to know how many lb of this
blend can be placed per cuft of bulk container)

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Important Notes:
1) when designing LiteCRETE* in WIZARD mode,
SlurryDesigner* will include a “safety factor” of 0.87 in
order to minimize the amount of material lost through vent
lines during bulking operations by allowing more “head
room” in the bulk container to stop lightweight material
“floating” into the vent line.
2) when designing LiteCRETE in EXPERT mode,
SlurryDesigner does not “know” the blend type and
therefore does NOT include the “safety factor”. In this
case output should be multiplied by 0.87
3) SlurryDesigner previous versions included a Bulk density
Max. output. This output was based on a % of the
“Absolute” bulk density and intended to give an estimation
of the bulk density once the materials were blended.
However, it was sometimes misunderstood and wrongly
used to estimate bulk requirements, therefore it has been
removed.

DTM Dec 06 SlurryDesigner Version 1.1.6 released on 20th Dec 06

 Understanding Bulk Volume
Bulk Volume : The volume occupied by a certain weight of dry material
including void spaces between solid particles.

1 Sack = 1 cubic foot (ft3) = 94 pounds

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CEMENT

As mentioned earlier Bulk Volume/Density are used to estimate how much material/blend
can be placed inside a bulk container. But, is the “amount” of void spaces between solid
particles for a given material/blend always the same??? NO! In fact, the Bulk
Volume/Density of a given material/blend might significantly vary depending on the amount
of air (void spaces) present within its particles.
- The “better” or “closer” the particles are “accommodated” with within
in each other, the
less amount of void spaces, and therefore the greater the Bulk Density
Density and the
smaller the Bulk Volume.

DTM Dec 06

This slide was taken from “Absolute Volume Calculation “ Training Presentation, which can be found at Content ID:3936332
 Understanding Bulk Volume
Comments from Bernard Piot (Ticket ID: 4248821):
“You need to know several "bulk" volumes depending on what you are looking for:
1) the bulk volumes of each blend component, as this determines the required
quantities of each material when you are preparing the blend, depending on the size

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of your cutting bottle and your Weigh Batch Blender. You need to sum up the bulk
volumes of each product.

2) for any blend (or even for plain cement, for that matter), you need to know the bulk
volume of the "loose" material, that is, the volume of the material when aerated and
fluffed. This will determine how much of that material you can store in a given size
silo, without risking to loose too much of the product through the vent line. This loose
bulk volume is in fact very close (as a first approximation) to the weighted sum of the
individual loose bulk volumes of each component.

3) for any blend (or even for plain cement, for that matter), you also need to know the
bulk volume of the "tapped" material, that is, the volume of material once stored and
naturally compacted in your silo. This will allow you to correctly estimate the tonnage
of blend (cement) in your silo from the approximate volume it occupies.”
DTM Dec 06
 SUMMARY - Understanding Bulk Volume
• What Bulk Volume should we use in the field when preparing a blend? We
use the weighted sum of the individual loose bulk volumes of each
component (slide 8), except for “light” blends (i.e.: LiteCRETE*) where a
“safety factor” should be included due to its light weight material (slide 9).
• So what Bulk Volume should we use in the field to know how much of a

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given blend (already prepared) can be placed in a given bulk container?
Same as above. Why don’t we use the Loose Bulk Volume of the blend
instead? Because, it is in fact very close to sum of its individual loose bulk
volumes of each component, and it is more practical to estimate the sum of
its weighted individual loose bulk volumes.
• Will the Bulk Volume of a given material/blend “change” after it has been
stored for some time without fluffing? Possible, as the blend might naturally
“compact”. So does this mean that we can “add” more blend after a
while? It is physically possible, but it should NOT be done, because it might
lead to excessive blend compaction, and as consequence it may be difficult
to transfer the blend.
DTM Dec 06
 More Useful Information
• What about if particles bulk information is not available? As mentioned, it
might be estimated in the lab (slide 7).
• Is there any role of thumb Bulk Volume/Density if no data is available? Yes,
use twice the Absolute Volume or half the “Absolute” Density.
• Can the “tapped” bulk density be estimated? Yes, see comment from

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Bernard Piot: “The tapped bulk volume requires a specific equipment (not
very expensive, at about 3-4 k$) and a specific procedure. We can do it
here in Clamart. For tapped density, then you would use and ponder the
above loose density with a coefficient that depends on the Packing Volume
Fraction of the blend. Typically, for plain cement and ordinary blends
(cement + silica, cement + hematite, cement + pozzolan, cement +
LITEFIL&), I would use a blend density that is at most 60 to 65% of the
weighted absolute density of that blend. However, for a blend designed and
prepared according to CemCRETE* technology, this tapped bulk blend
density can reach 75 to 85% of the absolute blend density depending on the
blend PVF.”
DTM Dec 06