Specific Gravity and Absorption

of Coarse Aggregates
LABORATORY EXPERIMENT 5

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE OF CIVIL ENGINEERING- 211D

AMANTE, JEAH
BIENVENIDO, EYMXEL
DELA CRUZ, MIGUEL ANDREI
IYOG, HANNAH MEKIE SHANE
MACABUHAY, MICO
PALILEO, JHERRY ANNE
ROMERO, CHRISTOPHER JHON IJI
URSUA, LEE ANDRIE

I. INTRODUCTION
 According to a website, aggregate is known as the building block of civilization, and

without it modern society would not exist. It is also stated that some structures lasted over 5,000

years by the use of aggregate. The early signs of aggregate in use are from: Mesopotamia around

3000 BC, Ancient Egypt 2500 BC, Roman Empire which has the earliest large-scale use of

concrete, and still be used up til today. Given this connected research, it is impossible to dispute

the importance of aggregates in the construction sector which significantly improve the

compressive strength and longevity of concrete.

Furthermore, aggregates are commonly known into two general sizes: coarse and fine
aggregates. And in this experiment, we will only focus on testing coarse aggregates. As defined
by ASTM C33, coarse aggregate is made up of gravel, crushed gravel, crushed stone, air-cooled
blast furnace slag, crushed hydraulic-cement concrete, or a mixture of these materials.

Lisa Mahr, the author of “Aggregate Testing Standards”, stated, "Aggregate is the main
ingredient in Portland Cement Concrete and Asphalt Concrete. All aggregate used for
construction purposes must be tested, physically and chemically, to verify its suitability for these
uses.” Every production project must undergo testing to confirm that the materials meet the
requirements for a specific application, determine the processing requirements, and reduce future
complications.

In accordance with this, the standard test is made; the American Society for Testing and
Materials (ASTM), and the American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHTO) are
some of the agencies that follow the standard test procedures for aggregates. In order to
guarantee the quality of the aggregate, every potential source for it must be extensively
evaluated. One of the industry standards is Specific Gravity and Absorption (ASTM C 127/C
128, AASHTO T-85/T-84).

The Specific Gravity of Aggregates test is to identify stones or aggregates, it usually

shows the strength and the quality of the material. The majority of the time, totals with low
specific gravity are weaker than those with higher specific gravity. However, water absorption
identifies the strength of the aggregates. The percentage of water that an air-dried aggregate
absorbs after being submerged in water at 27°C for 24 hours is known as the water absorption of
aggregates. An aggregate that has more water absorption is usually unsuitable for construction
unless they are found to be acceptable based on strength, impact, and hardness tests.

Overall, the Specific Gravity and Water Absorption Test of Aggregates is an important
test that is needed to be performed on aggregate as these properties of course aggregate play an
important role in the mix design of concrete. Since aggregate makes up between 70 and 80
percent of the volume of concrete, evaluating it before usage is crucial.

II. METHODOLOGY

Materials

1.2kg of coarse aggregates

2. Weighing Scale

3.Wired basket

The procedure for measuring the specific gravity of coarse aggregates:

1. Provide 2 kg of coarse aggregates, it should be washed or cleaned to eliminate particles

before putting it in a wired basket. The wire basket is then submerged in water that is
between 22 degree Celsius and 32 degree Celsius in temperature.

2. Submerged the basket with aggregates in water for 24 ± 0.5 hours.

3. In the water with the temperature of 22 degree C to 32 degree C. , the basket and
aggregate are weighed while floating in it .

4. After being removed from the water, the basket with aggregates is dried with a dry,
absorbent cloth.

5. Once the basket and the aggregates are dry, weigh it.
6. Place the coarse aggregates in any container and the group members on this experiment
put it in a can

7. Put it in the oven, which has a temperature of 110 degree celsius.

 8. Lastly, after being baked in the oven for 24 hrs, wait for it to be cooled and then weigh
it.

III. DISCUSSION OF RESULTS AND CONCLUSION

The significance of the outcomes lies in their capacity to help engineers in assessing the
feasibility of utilizing the aggregates in construction, as well as determining their workability.
The absence of these procedures would result in unsustainable and non-durable structures due to
inadequate information.

The concept of bulk specific gravity, which involves comparing the weight of a given volume of
aggregate (including both permeable and impermeable voids) to the weight of an equal volume
of water. After performing the required calculations, the obtained outcomes for the provided data
are as follows: the bulk specific gravity is 8.82g, the Bulk SSD specific gravity is 9.53g, the
Apparent specific gravity is 29.91g, and the absorption value is 8.11%.
IV. DATA AND RESULTS
Following the conclusion of the laboratory experiment, the data collected
from the materials, including the basket, tray, and can was computed. The values
for bulk specific gravity, bulk SSD specific gravity, apparent specific gravity, and
absorption were computed for the specimen.

The table below is our collected and computed data for the experiment:
 The following is the calculation for all the required data.
V.

REFERENCES

Kundra, Y. (2022, March 3). ASTM C33 Method for Standard Specification for Concrete

Aggregates. Infinita Lab.

 https://infinitalab.com/astm/astm-c33/#:~:text=ASTM%20C33%20gives%20the

%20detailed,and%20other%20particular%20grading%20requirements.

Metivier, J. (2022). Aggregate Testing Standards — EnviroMINE, Inc. EnviroMINE, Inc.

http://www.enviromineinc.com/research-library/2015/12/24/aggregate-testing-
standards#:~:text=Aggregate%20is%20classified%20into%20two,on%20a%20%23200%20U.S.
%20sieve.&text=Fine%20aggregate%20consists%20of%20natural,manufactured%20sand%2C
%20or%20a%20combination.

Jack. (2023). 4 Different Types of Aggregates Everyone Should Know. GMAT.

https://www.gmat.co.uk/4-different-types-of-aggregates-everyone-should-know/

Mahajan, B. (2023, May 26). Specific Gravity And Water Absorption Test Of Coarse

Aggregate | Specific Gravity Of Coarse Aggregate. Civiconcepts.

https://civiconcepts.com/blog/specific-gravity-and-water-absorption-test-of-coarse-

aggregate