Chapter-7

Construction Material
 The term 'construction minerals' is used to describe all
minerals, soils and rocks used by the construction industry,
for example those use in road construction, house
construction, Dam construction, railway construction and
other engineering structures.
 During any engineering structure construction, to have the
stable and economic engineering structure, it is essential to
identify suitable sources of construction material by
considering different suitability factors.
 Factors those determine the suitability condition of the
Source of geological Construction materials:
 Volume of material
 Geological structures which control the workability and
block size of the quarry material
 Overburden material which affect the economy of the
project
 Transportation cost (distance of the source site)
 Weathering degree of the rock
 Engineering properties of the material
 slope angle (topography)of the site
 population density of the site
 land use/ land covers of the site
 Accessibility of the site
 workability of the material and others.
Dimension Stone
 It is the principal load-bearing material of buildings, bridges
and others, now its function largely taken over by concrete,
brick and steel
 These rock must be quarried in sizeable rectangular blocks
free from internal fractures, cannot yield an excessive
proportion of waste fragments, has widely spaced bedding
and joints, has High compressive, shear strengths,
hardness and durability for load-bearing
 The common examples of building stones are granite,
massive sandstone, limestone and other igneous rocks
Roofing rock Materials:
 Rocks used for roofing purposes must possess a sufficient
degree of fissility to split into thin slabs
 It also must be a durable and impermeable material
 Slate is one of the best roofing materials and has been used
extensively and also used for paving when the cleavage is not
so fine
 Facing Materials:
 Facing and Flooring Rock construction materials are used for
the decorative of building walls and floors.
 These rocks must have :
- High tensile strength in order to resist cracking
-Good appearance which controlled by mineralogical
composition and grain size of the rock
 E.G A wider variety of porphyritic igneous rocks, marbles,
Serpentine, tuffs, fossiliferous limes and others are used as
facing and paving (flooring) materials
Armourstone
 Armourstone refers to large blocks of rock that are used to
protect civil engineering structures
E.g.
-Rip-rap are used to protect the upstream face of dams
from the wave action of water
- it also serve as scour prevention from bridge piers
-it is used in coastal engineering for protection of sea
walls by breaking sea waters wave
 To have good quality Armourstone material: the size,
grading, shape, density, water absorption, abrasion
resistance, impact resistance, strength and durability of
the rock material used for armourstone must be
considered during the design stage of a particular project
Aggregate construction material
 It is the granular or particulate material that we have use in
different engineering structures as it is or by mixing with
other material such as cement, bitumen and others
 The two principal types of aggregate are crushed rock
aggregate and natural gravel aggregate
 Most of the time the properties of an aggregate are related to
the texture and mineralogical composition of the rock from
which it was derived. E.G.
• The higher the porosity and the larger the grain size, the
lower the crushing strength.
• The coarse-grained igneous rocks are not as suitable as the
fine-grained, as they crush more easily. On the other hand,
the very-fine-grained and glassy volcanics are unsuitable
since they produce chips with sharp edges when crushed,
and they tend to develop a high polishing value
Crushed Rock for Concrete Aggregate
 Concrete is formed from the mixtures of rock aggregate,
sand, cement and water and used in different engineering
structures
 Approximately 75% of the volume of concrete consists of
aggregate, therefore its properties have a significant
influence on the engineering behavior of concrete
 The main factors those control suitability condition of the
concrete aggregate are: Aggregate Shape, alkali reaction
capacity and shrinkage capacity of an aggregate
Aggregate Shape
The shape of aggregate particles that governed mainly by the
fracture pattern of the rock can control the suitability condition
of the concrete aggregate
The angular shaped aggregate particles has high interlocking
capacity than the tabular- or planar-shaped aggregate particles
Most of the time the shape of the aggregate can be depend
on the rock type
E.g. Rocks such as basalts, dolerites, andesite, granites,
quartzite and limestone tend to produce angular fragments
when crushed, while foliated and laminated rocks have a
tendency to form a tabular or planar-shaped aggregate
particles.
Alkali reaction capacity of an Aggregate
 The siliceous aggregate material those contain opal,
chalcedony, flint, chert, greywacke and volcanic glass can
undergo the chemical reaction when it used with the alkali
cement those has high content of Na2O and K2O.
E.g Portland cement
 Due to this alkali chemical reaction the concrete is expanded
and crack, thereby it looses its strength
 When concrete is wet, the alkalies that are released are
dissolved by water and form the caustic solution that attacks
reactive aggregates and produce alkali–silica gels
 These gels can absorb more water and develop the pressure
that causes rupturing of the cement around reacting
aggregate particles
 Therefore to avoided these problems a preliminary
petrological examination of the aggregate must be conducted
Based on the petrological examination the material that
contains > 0.25% opal, > 5% chalcedony or > 3% glass by
weight must be rejected for the concrete aggregate. Otherwise it
must be used as the concrete aggregate with low-alkali cement
which contains less than 0.6% of Na2O and K2O
The reactivity of an aggregate is not depend only on the
composition but also to the percentage of strained quartz that a
rock contains
 For instance the rock aggregates containing 40% or more of
strongly adulatory or highly granulated quartz were highly
reactive, whereas those with between 30 and 35% were
moderately reactive
The basaltic rocks with 5% or more secondary chalcedony or
opal, or about 15% aragonite, Sandstones containing 5% or
more chert and Certain argillaceous dolostones can show
deleterious reactions with high-alkali cements
shrinkage capacity of an aggregate
It is the large wetting and drying volume fluctuation of rock
aggregate that can affect the total shrinkage of concrete
This properties of rock aggregate is depend on the
percentage of clay material. Consequently, the proportion of
clay material in a fine aggregate should not exceed 3%.
The aggregates from basalt, gabbro, dolerite, mudstone and
greywacke have high shrinkage capacity while the aggregates
from Granite, limestone, quartzite and felsites are not
affected by shrinkage
In general it assumed that shrinkage of the aggregate in
concrete should not exceed 0.045%.
Road Aggregate
 Aggregates are a basic material in both flexible pavement
and rigid pavement road construction. In general it has
three primary uses in highway construction:
1. It can Use as compacted aggregates in bases, subbase and
shoulders
2. It can use as ingredients in hot mix asphalt which can
serve as surfacing layer for flexible pavement road.
3. It can use as ingredients in Portland cement concrete for
the construction of rigid-pavement slabs, bridges, concrete
barriers, sidewalks, curbs, Retaining walls, and other
structures.
 Some times it can also used as special backfill material,
riprap and for other less significant purposes.
 Most igneous and contact metamorphic rocks are suitable
for road aggregate, but not regional metamorphic rocks.
Road aggregates for base course
 It is the road layer from Compacted aggregates without
the addition of a cementing material or bitumen
 In the rigid pavements the importance of base course is to
improve the drainage and to cover a material that is highly
susceptible to frost.
 Here gradation and soundness are the primary
considerations in selecting or evaluating aggregates
 In the flexible pavement it use to carry and transmit the
applied loads.
 gradation and strength of the aggregate must be evaluated
Road aggregates for subbase
 It is also the road layer from Compacted aggregates
without the addition of a cementing material or bitumen
 Most of the time the natural gravel can be used in this layer
 The shape and surface texture of the natural gravel can be
influenced by transportation agents, initial shape of the
fragment, and transportation distance
 Based on their shape Gravel particles can be classified as
rounded, irregular, angular, flaky and elongated
Road aggregate for asphalt layer
 Most of the time it prepared from crushed rocks
 It must has high resistance to abrasion, low porosity, high
binding capacity with bitumen, non coating surface, high
polishing resistance, non flaky material, high weathering
resistance, high crushing value and etc.
 Acid igneous rocks do not mix well with bitumen as they
have poor ability to absorb it while basic igneous rocks
such as basalt and dolerite possess a high affinity for
bitumen, as does limestone.
 The suitable rocks for asphalt aggregate can be massive
and has fine-medium grain size texture
 E.g. basalt, dolerite, fine granite, greywacke, quartzite,
hornfels, flint etc.
Railroad aggregate
 To withstand the high speed and high load of train the
railroad must has high engineering quality
 Ballast aggregate: it is one of the railway substructure
layer that constructed from the course aggregate and laid
between the sleeper and sub-ballast and perform the
following functions:
 Retain the sleeper in position by withstanding the vertical,
lateral and longitudinal forces
 Provide elasticity and dynamic resistance to the track
superstructure
 Distributing the stress from the sleeper over the large area
of the underling layers
 Preventing vegetation growth in the track
 Provide free drainage and others
To perform its function well, the ballast aggregate must be:
 Tough enough to resist breakdown and fracturing under
the load
 Hard enough to resist abrasion and wear
 Dense enough and have sufficient mass to resist lateral
forces and anchor the ties in the place
 Free of secondary minerals such as pyrite which can cause
corrosive effect on the metallic parts of the track
 Has high resistance to the chemical and physical
degradation
 Non flake material to has good interlocking capacity
 Sub ballast aggregate
 It is one of the track substructure that placed in between
ballast and sub-grade and perform the following functions:
 Reducing the stress level from ballast to sub-grade
 Preventing the interpenetration of ballast material into the
sub-grade
 Preventing the emigration of fine sub-grade material into
ballast layer

• Most of the time like the Highway base course and sub-
base layers, sub-ballast can be constructed from crushed
stone or Natural gravels
Sand material
 It is the fine grain construction material that use in different
engineering structures such as concrete work, mortars,
plasters and renderings and others
 To produce a good-quality concrete the sand gradation can
play big role
 Poorly graded sands can be improved by adding the
missing grade sizes to them (blending)
 The sand used in concrete work must contain less than 3%
silt or clay by weight, since they need a high water during
concrete mix and leads to shrinkage and cracking in
concrete on drying
 If sand particles are coated with clay, they form a poor
bond with cement and produce a weaker and less durable
concrete.
 The presence of feldspars, mica, particles of shale and
Organic impurities in sand can affect the strength, salt
content, iron pyrite and durability of the concrete
 The sand that have more than 95% silica content and less
than 0.05 iron oxides can be use in glass industry

Natural Gravel and sand deposition

 Colluvium deposition
 Alluvial deposition
 Marine deposition
 Glacial deposition and others
Construction material for zoned Embankment Dam
 Core material: it is the barrier layer to the flow of water
through the dam. This material need to develop high shear
strength, low permeability, low water absorption and
undergo minimal settlement.
 Filter material: it is the permeable layer next to the core
and use to prevent the migration of particles from the core
to the shell layer
 Downstream shell material: it is the layer next to the filter
in the downstream. Its primary function is to support the
core and filter under any condition. To perform its function
this layer must be constructed form strong and stable
material such as gravel and rocks
 Transitional zones material: this layer is serve as
additional filter when the grain size of core material and
shell layer material is greatly differ
 Upstream shell material: like the downstream shell its
function is to support the core and other inner layers.
However it is submerged by reservoir water and subjected
to its function
 Riprap zone material: it is the outer layer of the dam after
the upstream shell layer. Its main function is to prevent
other layers from wave action of reservoir water.
Principal tests for geological construction material
 Polished stone value test
 It can influences the skid resistance of an aggregate by
reducing the surface roughness of aggregate particles
 The aggregate in the bended road line is polish up to seven
times more rapidly than the aggregate in the straight road
 The polishing of road aggregate is more significant when
the road surface is dry than wet
 In the case of igneous and contact metamorphic rocks the
good polishing resistance result from a variation in
hardness between the minerals present in the rock
 Coarser grain size and the presence of cracks in individual
grains also tend to improve the polishing resistance.
 In sedimentary rocks, the presence of hard grains in a softer
matrix can improve the polishing resistance.
 Aggregate Crushing Value (ACV) test
 It is the mechanical properties of an aggregate that is used
to measure the resistance of an aggregate to crushing under
a gradual applied compressive load or static load
 To perform this test the aggregate sample with 10-14mm
size is subjected to the static load that is increased with a
constant rate up to 400kN
 Than the fine material passing through 2.36mm sieve is
calculated as percentage of original weight of tested sample
and is used as ACV.
 𝐴𝐶𝑉=𝑀2/𝑀1𝑥100
M1= mass of the tested specimen in g
M2=mass of material passing the 2.36 mm sieve in g
 The low ACV indicates the high crushing resistance or
good quality aggregate material.
 Aggregate impact value (AIV) test
 It is one of the aggregate mechanical properties which can
be used to determine the resistance of an aggregate to
sudden shock or impact force
 To perform this test the aggregate sample with 10-14 mm
size is subjected to 15 blows and the percentage of fine
material passing through 2.36 mm sieve is calculated and
used as AIV
 AIV=M2/𝑀1x100%
Where M1=mass of the tested specimen in g
M2=mass of material passing the 2.36 mm sieve in g.
 Small AIV indicates the high resistance of an aggregate to
the impact force (the high quality aggregate material)
 Soundness testing
 It use to determine how the aggregate can be affected by
the crystal growth in the pore space of the aggregate from
the precipitation of dissolved pollutant (weathering
resistance of material)
 It is accomplished by repeated immersion of sample in to
the saturated solutions of sodium or magnesium sulfate
and followed by oven drying
 Small soundness value indicates the high resistance of an
aggregate to weathering (the high quality aggregate
material)
Specific gravity test
 It is the relative density or the ratio of the density of the
material to the density of distilled water at the stated
temperature
 This property of the construction material can controls the
stability condition of the engineering structures by
affecting both its vertical and horizontal holding capacity
 Thus, it implies that the material with high specific gravity
shows the heavier and more stable construction material
 It can be expressed as; oven-dry (OD) specific gravity,
saturated surface-dry (SSD) specific gravity or as apparent
specific gravity
 𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦 (𝑂𝐷)=𝐴/𝐵−𝐶

 𝐴𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦 =𝐴/𝐴−𝐶

 𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦 (𝑆𝐷)=𝐵/𝐵−𝐶

Where:
A = mass of oven-dry test sample in air, g
B = mass of saturated surface-dry test sample in air, g
C = apparent mass of saturated test sample in water, g
Los Angeles Abrasion (LAA) value test
 This test can be used to measure the abrasive wear
resistance, toughness and durability of the construction
material under the contact force

 The Los Angeles Abrasion value shows the percentage of

aggregate material passing a 1.6 mm sieve after the
completion of the test.
 The more LAA value shows that the construction material
is more susceptible to fragmentation and abrasion or it is
unsuitable material
 Water absorption value test
 The water absorption test of the construction material
shows the ability of material to absorb water which
indirectly use to determine the capacity of the material to
resist the rapid deterioration during wetting & drying and
freezing & thawing cycles of the environment
 This test is done by immersing the oven dry rock material
into the water to measure its water absorption
 Water absorption %= (𝐵−𝐴/A)𝑥100

Where;
A= the mass of oven-dry tested sample in g
B= the mass of saturated surface-dry tested sample in g
 Low percentage of water absorption value indicates high
quality construction material
 Aggregate shape tests
 The shape of an aggregate can control the interlocking
capacity of an aggregate.
 Flakiness index: it is the percentage of particles, by
weight, whose least dimension (thickness) is less than 0.6
times their mean dimension.
 Elongation index: it is the percentage of particles, by
weight, whose greatest dimension (length) is greater than
1.8 times their mean dimension.
 Angularity number: it is a measure of relative angularity
based on the percentage of voids in the aggregate. The
least angular aggregates have about 33% voids, and the
angularity number is defined as the amount by which the
percentage of voids exceeds 33. The angularity number
ranges from 0 to about 12.
Slake durability test
 This test can be used to measure the existence of clay
minerals such as montimorillonite in the rocks which can
cause the rapid breakdown of the rocks due to theirs high
water absorption (swelling) capacity
 In addition to this the excessive clay material in ballast
rock can restrict the drainage and promote the growth of
vegetation in the ballast section and affect the track
performance.
Gradation test
 This test can measure the condition of particle grain size
distribution in the construction material
 The gradation condition of construction material can
control the performance and stability condition of
engineering structures