6/1/2022

CE 301
Engineering Materials
(4 Credit)

Sand (Fine Aggregate)

Abdullah Al Mahin
Lecturer, CE, MEC
Contact: abdullahalmahin.cee@gmail.com

Department of Civil Engineering

What is Sand?
• Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided
rock and mineral particles.
• The most common constituent of sand is silica (silicon dioxide, or SiO2),
usually in the form of quartz and may be of argillaceous, silicious or
calcareous according to its composition.

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Soil Particle size comparison

>2 mm .05-2 mm .002-.05 mm <.002 mm

Classification of Sand
 Sand is formed by the weathering of rocks
 Based on the natural sources from which sand is obtained, it is classified as:
• Pit sand
• River sand
• Sea sand

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Pit Sand
• This sand is obtained by forming pits in soils
• It is light brown or yellowish in color
• It is excavated from a depth of about 1-2 m
from the ground level
• This sand is found as deposits in soil and it
consists of sharp angular grains, which are
free from salts
• It serves as an excellent material for mortar or
concrete work
Pit sand extraction
• Pit sand must be made free from clay and
other organic materials before it can be used
in mortar
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River Sand
• It is obtained from the banks or beds of
rivers
• Consists of fine rounded polished grains
• It generally contains earthy impurities
like gravel, pebbles
• The river sand is almost white in color
• It is smaller in size than pit sand and
hence most suited for plastering works

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Sea Sand
• This is obtained from sea shores and is brown
in color
• This type of sand is also fine, rounded and
polished
• It is the worst of the three varieties because it
contains sea salt which absorb moisture from
the atmosphere causing permanent dampness
and efflorescence
• It is generally not used for engineering
purposes. It is normally used for non structural
purposes

Crushed stone Sand or Artificial Sand

• It is a substitute for River Sand
• Manufactured by crushing either granite or basalt rock

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Sand classification: Based on grain size

• Fine Sand
 All the sand particles should pass through No. 16 (ASTM) sieve
 This is usually used in plastering works
• Moderately Coarse Sand
 All the sand particles should pass through No. 8 (ASTM) sieve
 This type of sand is generally used for mortar in masonry works
• Coarse Sand
 All the sand particles should pass through No. 4 (ASTM) sieve
 This type of sand is very suitable for concrete work

Properties of Good Sand

• It should be clean and coarse
• It should be free from any organic or vegetable matter; usually 3-4 per cent
clay is permitted
• It should contain sharp, angular, coarse grains
• It should not contain salts which attract moisture from the atmosphere
• It should be well graded, i.e., it should contain particles of various sizes in
suitable proportions
• It should be strong and durable
• It should be clean and free from coatings of clay and silt

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Test of Sand
• Sand is usually tested for silt and clay and organic matters
Test for silt or clay:
 To check the quality of fine aggregates or sand; put some quantity of sand
in a glass of water. Then it is vigorously shaken and allowed to settle. If the
clay is present in sand, its distinct layer is formed at the top of sand.
 The presence of silt or clay is determined by the percentage loss in weight
of a sample after washing the sample in clean water.

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Test of Sand
Test for Organic matter:
 Take a straight sided glass jar and give 130 cc and 200 cc mark on it
 Fill the jar with the sample sand up to 130 cc mark
 Add 3% of caustic soda until 200 cc mark is reached
 Shake the bottle thoroughly, as soon as the solution of caustic soda is added and
allow the mixture to stand for 24 hours
 Note the color of the liquid:
• If colorless, the sand is free rom vegetable matter.
• If straw colored, this indicates presence of some vegetable matter, but not enough to
make it seriously objectionable.
• If dark colored, the sand contains objectionable quantity of vegetable matter, and should
not be allowed to use without washing.
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Specification of Fine aggregate

(as per road structure manual of LGED)
Fine aggregate shall conform to the following requirements:
• Should be composed of hard, tough and angular grains
• Organic material content shall not exceed 5%
• Silt and other fine materials content shall not exceed 6%
• It must be well graded from coarse to fine. The grading shall be within the
range as shown below:

2.36 mm 1.18 mm 0.6 mm 0.3 mm 0.15 mm

Sieve Size
(#8) (#16) (#30) (#50) (#100)
% passing 90-100 75-90 45-75 30-50 0-5

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Specification of Fine aggregate

(as per road structure manual of LGED)
• In some specification, instead of above grading the following Fineness-Modulus
is recommended though grading is more appropriate to describe an aggregate:

Type of work FM
Concrete 1.80
Mortar 1.50
Filling sand 0.80

• It must not contain harmful impurities such as iron pyrites, coal, mica or other
impurities which will affect the quality of concrete.

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Uses of Sand
• Sand is often a principal component of concrete
• Brick manufacturing plants use sand as an additive with a mixture of clay and
other materials for manufacturing bricks
• It is the principal component of glass manufacturing
• Sand is used for Plastering work and in mortar
• Sand is used for fill up the road and brick soling gap area

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Bulking of Sand
• Bulking is the increase in total volume of a
given weight of sand due to the presence
of moisture
Increase in volume

• For up to about 5 to 8% of moisture by

weight of sand there is a steady increase in
volume to about 20 to 30%
• It happens because of small moisture
content which creates a thin film of water
around the sand grains and interlocking
the air between them, thus increasing the
inter particle distance Moisture content

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Bulking of Sand
• At certain moisture level the barrier
breaks and volume decreases
• When the sand is completely under

Increase in volume
water the volume is same as dry
volume

Moisture content

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Fineness Modulus (FM)

• Fineness Modulus is a factor which is computed using the sieve analysis results
• This is a parameter for checking the uniformity of grading
• This is an index of fineness of an aggregate
• FM of sand is a number which characterizes the average size of the aggregate
• FM for FA should be between 2.3 to 3.1 for concrete
• The higher the FM, the coarser is the aggregate
• It is computed by adding the cumulative percentages of aggregate retained on
the following series of sieves, 3”, 1½” ¾”, 3/8”, #4, #8, #16, #30, #50 and #100
and dividing the sum by 100

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FM: Example
The following is the result of the sieve analysis of a sand sample. Compute the
finesses modulus of the sample of sand.
Sieve Standard Wt. Retained
Size opening (mm) (gm)
3/8” 9.5 0
#4 4.75 0.8
#8 2.36 3.0
#16 1.18 11.5
#30 .600 13.0
#50 .300 50.4
#100 .150 18.9
#200 .075 20.5
pan - 11.9

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Exercise (Home work)

• FM calculation
• Combined FM calculation
• Ratio of sand from combined FM

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Sieve Analysis and Gradation Curve

Weight Cumulative
Sieve Finer
Retained Weight Retained
No Size gm gm % %
#4 4.75 0 0 0.00 100.00
#8 2.36 0 0 0.00 100.00
#16 1.18 0 0 0.00 100.00
#30 0.6 1 1 1.75 98.25
#50 0.3 15 16 28.07 71.93
#100 0.15 36 52 91.23 8.77
#200 0.075 3 55 96.49 3.51
Pan - 2 57 100.00 0.00
Total soil 57
Table-05: Sieve analysis of Sub-soil layer (580-590) ft.

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Sieve Analysis and Gradation Curve

Gradation curve
Gradation curvefor
for580-590
590 ft ft
% 100
Size
Finer 90

4.75 100.00 80

2.36 100.00 70

1.18 100.00 60
%%Finer
Finer

0.6 98.25 50
40 Layer 580-590 ft
0.3 71.93 Layer 590 ft

30
0.15 8.77
20
0.075 3.51
10
- 0.00
0
0.01 0.1 1 10 100
Sieve Sizesize
Sieve (mm)(mm)

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Gradation Coefficients
𝑫𝟔𝟎
Uniformity coefficient, 𝑪𝒖 =
𝑫𝟏𝟎
𝑫𝟐𝟑𝟎
Coefficient of gradation, 𝑪𝒄 =
𝑫𝟔𝟎 ×𝑫𝟏𝟎
Where, 𝑫𝟔𝟎 is the grain diameter at 60% passing
𝑫𝟑𝟎 is the grain diameter at 30% passing
𝑫𝟏𝟎 is the grain diameter at 10% passing

• For a gravel to be classified as well graded, the following criteria must be met:
𝑪𝒖 > 𝟒 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝟏 < 𝑪𝒄 < 𝟑
• For a sand to be classified as well graded, the following criteria must be met:
𝑪𝒖 ≥ 𝟔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝟏 < 𝑪𝒄 < 𝟑

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Sieve Analysis and Gradation

• Aggregate gradation (sieve analysis) is the distribution of particle sizes
expressed as a percent of the total dry weight.
• Gradation is determined by passing the material through a series of sieves
stacked with progressively smaller openings from top to bottom and
weighting the material retained on each sieve.
• Types of Grading Curves: Five different kinds of size distributions, dense
graded, gap-graded, uniformly graded, well graded and open graded are
illustrated in the following figure.

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Sieve Analysis and Gradation: Types of

Grading curves
Dense and Well-grading:
Dense and well graded aggregates are
desirable for making concrete, as the space
between larger particles is effectively filled
by smaller particles to produce a well packed
structure.

% Passing)
Gap grading:
Gap-grading is a kind of grading which lacks
one or more intermediate size. Gap graded
aggregates can make good concrete when
the required workability is relatively low.
Grain size (mm)
When they are use in high workability mixes,
segregation may become a problem.
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Sieve Analysis and Gradation: Types of

Grading curves
Uniform grading:
For the uniform grading, only a few sizes
dominate the bulk material. With this
grading, the aggregates are not effectively
packed and the resulting concrete will be
% Passing)

more porous, unless a lot of paste is

employed.
Open grading:
The open graded contains too much small
particles and easy to be disturbed by a
hole. Grain size (mm)

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Thank You!

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