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INTRODUCTION
It is well known that shape of aggregate plays very important role in ‘Shaping’ the
properties of concrete. Yet very little attention is given in controlling the shape
characteristics to optimize the properties of concrete. The Indian standard codes do
not even-mention the limits for Elongation and Flakiness. Aggregates constitute 90
to 95 % volume of concrete and shape of aggregates influence many a properties
of fresh and hardened concrete.
1) Better shape reduces the water demand for a given mix, hence decides the
cement consumption for a given workability.
3) It also reduces the mortar content of concrete for making concrete mixes
pumpable.
a) Bureau of Indian Standards publication IS-383 deals with Specifications for Coarse
& Fine Aggregates from Natural sources for Concrete. This does not specify Flakiness
Index & Elongation Index i.e. the properties in respect of shape of aggregate
directly. However, it gives references of IS 2386 (Part I) for the same.
b) Similarly IS-1343: Code of practice for Pre-stressed Specification also refers to IS-
383 for Aggregates.
d) MORT&H and NPC specifications limit Flakiness index and Elongation index to 15%
each.
This paper deals with importance of shape of particles in respect of fine and coarse
aggregates and the need to develop standard specifications in our codes and also
parameters for mix design.
Particle shape plays equally important role in fine aggregate as much as in coarse
aggregate. Because of environmental reasons as well as economic reasons, natural
sand is being replaced by crushed stone aggregate or manufactured sand. While it is
possible to measure shape characteristics of coarse aggregate, it is practically
impossible to ‘measure’ shape characteristics of fine aggregate. There are no
provisions to differentiate shaped manufactured sand from crushed stone grit other
than visual inspection and personal judgment. This results in malpractice of mixing
crushed sand with dust powder of jaw crushers.
Through a lot development has taken place in equipment for making shaped
aggregates including cone crushes and VSI. The high initial cost of such equipment is
preventing its popular use in construction. Shaped aggregates are available at
premium over regular aggregates. However proper shape of aggregate would result
in following advantages:-
2) It would bring down the cost of admixture by bringing down the dosage levels of
superplasticisers.
Even though the unit cost of shaped aggregates may be higher compared to those of
unshaped aggregates, it may be economical to use them in view of above savings.
The builder and contracting community cannot quantify the above savings and hence
use of shaped aggregates is limited to projects where they are made mandatory in
contract specifications. There is need for generating awareness on benefits of
controlling flakiness and elongation of aggregates.
While mix design methods differentiate between crushed and uncrushed aggregates
in calculation of water demand, correction factors based on Elongation and Flakiness
index have not been developed. This paper illustrates some correction factors for
shape of aggregates in calculation of water demand This will help builders and
contractors to quantify the savings in cement and admixture and thus help them in
deciding on investing in shaped aggregates.
It is well known that the shape of aggregate influences the specific surface of
concrete. The specific surface governs the water demand of concrete and water
demand in turn determines the cement content. All the existing mix design methods
have an inherent limitation of not having particle shape as an input parameter.
This method considers size of aggregate and slump as input parameters for
calculation of water demand
a) This method does not differentiate between flaky / elongated and rounded
(uncrushed) coarse aggregate for calculation of water demand.
b) This method does not distinguish between crushed sand and natural sand for
calculation of water demand.
This method takes in to account the slump, size of aggregate and type of aggregate
(crushed/uncrushed) for water demand calculation. While it specifies different water
demands for crushed and uncrushed aggregate (coarse as well as fine aggregate), it
does not give credit to their shape in terms of flakiness and elongation.
The IS Method
This method considers workability (compaction factor) and maximum size of coarse
aggregate as parameters for calculation of water demand. While it does give a
correction factor of -15Kg/m3 for rounded coarse aggregate, it does not classify
separately crushed and natural fine aggregates. Neither does it take in to account
the flakiness sand elongation of aggregates for the calculation of water demand.
RRL method
This method takes in to account the gradation of fine aggregates (zones), size, type
of coarse aggregate (crushed, rounded, irregular gravel) and workability for
calculation of aggregate to cement ratio. This method does not treat natural fine
aggregate and crushed fine aggregates differently.
1. All the above methods except the DOE method, do not give consideration to
different permutations of natural and crushed, coarse and fine aggregates.
2. None of the above methods give credit to flakiness of the coarse and fine
aggregates.
Effect of shape of coarse aggregate on water demand
Natural sand + 0 Kg / m3
Crushed sand (Shaped) + 15 Kg/ m3
Stone dust + 30 Kg/ m3
Economics of shape
As evident from the above data, the shape of aggregate affects the cement
consumption for a given workability. Most of the manufacturers of aggregates with
jaw crushers do not change their blades as often as required, and also do not have
intermediate crushing arrangement (primary and secondary crushing) for stepwise
size reduction. This results in high flakiness index of aggregates especially smaller
(10mm and below). Since most of the contract specifications do not specify limits for
flakiness and elongation, the contractors have a tendency to minimize their raw
material costs. The choice is often made in favour of flaky materials, which have the
lowest costs. This is accentuated by tendency by the client / contractor to bargain for
price, regardless of their shape characteristics. With advent of technologies like cone
crushing and Vertical Shaft Impactors, the shape of aggregates can be controlled.
The client /contractor is often not prepared to pay cost of producing shaped
aggregates. This is because there is no method for estimating the impact of flakiness
on the cement consumption and on the overall cost of concrete. In city like Pune
following characteristic was observed:
Thus we find that the problem of flakiness is most acute in smaller size aggregates.
Because of higher flakiness, there is increasing trend to eliminate 10mm aggregate
and use gap graded aggregates. Use of oversize aggregates often results in problems
like segregation and honeycombing. The user is often not aware that he is increasing
his cost of raw materials as 20 mm aggregate is more expensive than 10 mm down
aggregate.
Cost of aggregates in the city was as follows:
Thus we find that although unit cost of shaped aggregates is more than that of flaky
aggregates, concrete with shaped aggregates works out more economical. However
the above economics can change based on the unit cost of cement and difference
between the unit rates of shaped and regular aggregates.
Calculation of flakiness index - Need for a simpler method
The old method of calculation of flakiness or elongation was based on weight of flaky
material and total weight of sample taken. Although this method was simple it had
following drawbacks:-
1. Since larger size particles would have more weight, flakiness in larger sieve
sizes had greater impact on flakiness index than those in smaller sieve sizes.
2. Lower sieve sizes had less weight and more number of particles. They had
less influence on the flakiness index.
Considering the above limitation, the method of calculating the flakiness index was
changed from using weight of flaky material to the number of flaky particles. The
calculation of flakiness index as per new amendment is as follows:
10-6.3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
W= 1994 gms
The flakiness index calculated by the amendment is higher than that by old method.
The amendment seems to give logical and more accurate representation of flakiness
however it specifies that a minimum of 200 pieces should be retained on each sieve
fraction for calculation. This is makes the flakiness test extremely laborious and
difficult to carry out. For example in the above case if 200 pieces are to be made
available on each sieve say 31.5 – 25, we will have to increase the sample size of the
test by 200 times. It means that 400 kg of material has to be sieved to conduct the
above test. This is neither practical nor logical.
With absence of any method of distinguishing the two, there is a distinct possibility
of adulteration of crushed sand with stone powder or even supply of grit stone dust
mixture in place of crushed sand. There exists no provision in IS 383 to prevent use
of stone dust powder as fine aggregate. Also in case of crushed sand there is a need
to check the quality of its processing as different technologies are available.
This makes the choice a difficult proposition for the contractor with price becoming
the only criteria for decision making. Particle shape is directly linked to specific
surface of the aggregates. Comparison of specific surface of particles retained on
different sieves would be a good indicator of shape. A method needs to be developed
for checking the specific surface of fines in the fine aggregate with certain limiting
values as in case of cement and flyash. This would make classification possible and
help the contracting community in decision making.
4. CONCLUSIONS