IJIRST International Journal for Innovative Research in Science & Technology| Volume 3 | Issue 07 | December 2016

ISSN (online): 2349-6010

Comparison of Physical Properties between

Natural Sand and Manufactured Sand
Meghashree. M Arpitha. K. Gowda
Assistant Professor Student
Department of Civil Engineering Department of Civil Engineering
Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering ,Bangalore, India Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering ,Bangalore, India

K. Roopa
Student
Department of Civil Engineering
Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering ,Bangalore, India

Abstract
Sand is an important raw material in construction industry. It is the major fine aggregate. There is scarcity of natural sand in
large scale because of increased sand mining in river beds leading to lack of natural sand reserves, urban expansion, local
legislations and environmental constraints. The industry must find alternatives to meet the growing demand for fine aggregates.
So an alternative of this, manufactured sand is produced by the companies to meet the demands. The natural river sand is the
product of sedimentation and this river sand contains more impurities than manufactured sand. So river sand sometimes cannot
be used for important concreting works. So suitability of manufactured sand is tested. Therefore suitability of manufactured sand
is checked by conducting the tests related to physical properties of fine aggregates like fineness, bulk density and specific
gravity. And tests on fresh concrete using manufactured are also tested. The results of the tests are compared with natural sand.
This paper puts forward the suitability of manufactured sand to fulfill the unavailability of natural sand. Therefore manufactured
sand can be used as an alternative for natural sand which maintains the eco balance.
Keywords: Natural Sand, Manufactured Sand
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

I. INTRODUCTION

India is a developing country. There is also drastic infrastructure development. Natural Sand is a very important building
material which can be used for construction of buildings, for repair works, for road construction etc. But the quantity of
extraction of sand is not meeting the demands of customers. Mining of sand on river beds are also prohibited at most of the sites.
Mining is also posing environment problems. Urban expansion and depleted resources have increased the distance between the
point of extraction and the point of use. Road congestion has increased the travel time from pit to batching plant for many
operators found that processed, high quality manufactured sand can improve their business and reduce the percentage waste and
low value by-products. By utilizing the correct process equipment, low value crusher dust can be processed into a high value
premium product which is nothing but manufactured sand which can give better strength as equal as natural sand. So comparison
is done for the physical properties of manufactured sand with the natural sand by conducting various tests on physical properties
of fine aggregates. In this study tests on physical properties of fine aggregate are carried out in the laboratory for both natural
sand and manufactured sand. Using the tests results, comparison is done between both sands and finally suitability of
manufactured sand is decided.

II. EARLIER STUDIES

A.M Guddodagi, a civil contactor and who has installed a M-sand manufacturing unit in the north Karnataka region , said that
the increasing demand and limited supply of natural sand provoked him to install a M-sand manufacturing industry at Ainapur
village in the taluk. In 2004 Kerala government started popularizing M sand industry after facing the scarcity.

III. METHODOLOGY

Specific Gravity
This is a very important property in mix design. Oven dried aggregate passing through 4.75mm sieve is taken. Experiment is
conducted according to IS 2386(PART III).: 1963. The test results are given in table 1.

All rights reserved by www.ijirst.org 92

 Comparison of Physical Properties between Natural Sand and Manufactured Sand
(IJIRST/ Volume 3 / Issue 07/ 015)

Table - 1
Specific gravity
No. of trails Specific gravity of N sand Specific gravity of M sand
trial 1 2.49 2.63
trail 2 2.45 2.61
average 2.47 2.622

Fig. 1: Comparison of Specific gravity

Bulking of Fine Aggregate

The test was conducted according to the procedure laid down in IS 2386(PART III): 1963. Bulking is an intrinsic property of
natural sand. This is very important property in volume batching of aggregate. The test results are given in table 2 and table 3 for
natural and manufactured sand. Respective graph for trial 1 is shown in fig2.
Table - 2
Percentage Bulking of Natural Sand
Final height of natural aggregate % Bulking
% of water added Initial height
trial1 trial2 trial3 average
2 200 210 212 215 6.17
4 200 215 218 220 8.83
6 200 221 225 228 12.33
8 200 230 232 235 16.17
10 200 226 224 228 13
12 200 220 220 221 10.17
14 200 215 215 217 7.83
Table - 3
Percentage Bulking of Manufactured Sand
% of water added Initial height Final height of manufactured aggregate % Bulking
trial1 trial2 trial3 average
2 180 187 189 190 4.81
4 180 195 198 198 9.44
6 180 204 205 207 14.07
8 180 212 215 217 19.26
10 180 205 209 210 15.556
12 180 199 200 201 11.11
14 180 188 190 190 5.19

Fig. 2: Comparison of Percentage Bulking of Natural sand and M Sand

All rights reserved by www.ijirst.org 93

 Comparison of Physical Properties between Natural Sand and Manufactured Sand
(IJIRST/ Volume 3 / Issue 07/ 015)

Bulk Density
Conducted according to IS 2386(PART III): 1963 using cylindrical containers. Both compacted and uncompact bulk densities
were found for both natural and manufactured sand. The test results are given in table 4.
Table - 4
Bulk Density of Aggregates
Bulk density of aggregates
Bulk density in kg/m3
Trial
N sand M sand
1 1655.09 1781.13
2 1663.01 1800
3 1648.3 1783.08
Average 1655.47 1788.07
Sieve Analysis
Test is conducted for dry sample in order to know the grain size distribution of aggregates. The average value of fineness
modulus is found. The zoning of aggregate as per IS: 2386(PART III): 1963 is found. The test results are given in table 5 for
natural sand and table 6 for manufactured sand. Respective graphs for natural sand and manufactured sand is shown in fig2 and
fig 3.
Table - 5
Sieve analysis of Natural Sand
% Fines of natural sand
Seive Size (mm)
Trial1 Trial2 Trial3
4.75 98 97.4 97.4
2.36 84.2 87.8 90.2
1.18 53 58.8 60.2
0.6 37.8 44.8 46.2
0.425 23 29.2 31.4
0.3 12.6 19.2 19
0.15 6.6 7.2 5.8
0.075 2 2.2 1.4
PAN 0 0 0
Table - 6
Sieve analysis of Manufactured Sand
% Fines of manufactured sand
Seive Size (mm)
Trial-1 Trial-2 Trial-3
4.75 100 100 100
2.36 90 90.4 85.8
1.18 61.2 62 52
0.6 47.6 48 39.4
0.425 35.8 38 31
0.3 24.8 27.6 21.4
0.15 12.8 13.6 8.6
0.075 4 3.6 3
PAN 0 0 0

Fig. 2: Sieve Analysis of Natural Sand

All rights reserved by www.ijirst.org 94

 Comparison of Physical Properties between Natural Sand and Manufactured Sand
(IJIRST/ Volume 3 / Issue 07/ 015)

Fig. 3: Sieve Analysis of Manufactured Sand

IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

We can see that from the above results the specific gravity of manufactured sand is 2.61 and that of natural sand 2.47 are
comparable.
From fig.1 we see that Percentage bulking of manufactured sand obtained is slightly higher when compared to the natural
snd. But it falls within the range.
We see that the bulk density of manufactured sand is greater than the bulk density of natural sand.
From the sieve analysis we see that M. sand is slightly coarser than the natural sand
Both natural sand and manufactured sand falls under zone 2.
Table 7 gives the comparison between the properties of natural sand and artificial sand which gives the similarity between the
aggregates
Table - 7
Comparison between the properties of natural sand and artificial sand
Comparison between the aggregates
Properties Natural sand Manufactured sand
Specific gravity 2.47 2.622
Bulking (%) 16.17 19.26
Bulk density(kg/m^3) 1655.5 1788.07
Fineness 2.72 2.91

Concluding Remarks
We can conclude that manufactured sand has comparable properties with natural sand.
The properties are within the range specifies by the Indian standard code of practice.
M sand is available for reasonable cost in the market where as natural sand is scarcely available
Hence, it is concluded that manufactured sand has almost same properties as that of natural sand. Therefore manufactured sand
has a potential to provide alternative to natural sand. So, manufactured sand can be used as an alternative building material to
Sand.
Scope for further Study
Study can be carried out by casting cubes to find compressive strength
Study can be carried out to find shear strength of manufactured sand mortar
Study can be carried out with recycled aggregate concrete

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

We extend our thanks to Dr. Nagaraj Sitaram, HOD, civil department, Dayananda sagar college of engineering , management
and staff of Dayananda Sagar college of engineering for their cooperation in bringing out this work, Kumaraswamy layout,
Bangalore.

All rights reserved by www.ijirst.org 95

 Comparison of Physical Properties between Natural Sand and Manufactured Sand
(IJIRST/ Volume 3 / Issue 07/ 015)

REFERENCES
[1] IS: 383-1970 Recommended guidelines for concrete mix. Bureau of Indian standards. New Delhi.
[2] IS: 2386-1963 (PART- 3) Recommended for methods of test for aggregates for concrete. Bureau of Indian standards. New Delhi.
[3] IS: 383-1970 Recommended guidelines for concrete mix. Bureau of Indian standards. New Delhi.
[4] Neville.A.M ELBS Edition, Longman Ltd, London, A Text book for properties of concrete.
[5] Gambhir M.L- Dhanpath Rai & sons, New Delhi, A concrete manual.
[6] M.S.Shetty, A textbook for concrete technology.
[7] Abhijith Pawar, Mahesh pilodkar, Gauri munoth, Prashanth Sisodiya, Minimizing sand content in concrete, International Journal Of Research In
Engineering and Technology.

All rights reserved by www.ijirst.org 96