Purbanchal University

Khwopa Engineering College

(An undertaking of Bhaktapur Municipality)

Libali-8, Bhaktapur

Lab report on
Construction material
Practical on :-2
(Bulking of sand)

SUBMITTED BY: SUBMITTED TO:

Krish Prajapati Er.Ramesh Bala
Roll no:-780238 Department of civil engineering

Date of submission:-26/06/2022
  Objective:
To determine the Bulking of aggregate
 Requirements:
 Apparatus:
 Weighing machine
 Drying oven
 Graduated cylindrical measure
 Tramping rod
 Metal tray
 Material Required:
 Each 500 grams of dry Sand of fine, medium and coarse aggregate 
 Water
Theory:
The increase in volume of sand on getting moist is termed as bulking of sand. Dry and fully
saturated sand does not bulk. As the sand become finer the bulking of the sand increases.
Hence the rate of bulking of sand depends upon two factors - Percentage of moisture content &
Grain size of sand particle.
 If damp sand is loosely deposited, its volume is much more than that when the same sand is
deposited in a loose, dry state. The phenomenon of increase in volume of sand due to
dampness is known as bulking of sand. In damped state, cohesion develops between the
particles due to capillary water. The cohesion prevents the particles from taking a stable
position. A sort of honey comb structure is formed. The effect is predominant when the water
content is between 4 to 5 %. The increase in volume due to bulking is between 20% to 30% for
most sand. If the damp sand is saturated by adding more water, the effect of capillary action is
eliminated and the volume of the sand mass is decreased. Similarly, fine sand shows higher
bulking rate compared to coarse sand. Bulking may be to an extent of 30% of original dry
volume of sand in fine sand and 15% in case of coarse sand. Due to the bulking of sand, the
mortar may contain less amount of sand than required amount. Hence, the correction factor for
bulking of sand has to be applied after determining the rate of bulking for the sand to be used
in mortar and concrete materials. The bulking factor with respect to dry loose sand is the ratio
of unit weight of dry loose sand and unit weight of dry sand contained in wet loose sand.
= (W /W )
d d
w

The bulking factor w.r.t dry compacted sand is the ratio of unit weight of dry compacted sand
and unit weight of dry sands contained in wet loose sand. 
= (W /W )
d d
w

Unit weight of dry sand contained in wet loose sand, is given by

W =W /(1+X/100)
d
w
w

Where, W = Unit weight of loose wet sand and X is the percentage

w

moisture content.
Therefore, Percentage bulking = (Bulking factor-1)*100 

Procedure:  
 A. Cylindrical container should was taken and its weight was weighted.
B. Damp fine, mediums and coarse sand sample was taken and was dried in oven.
C. After drying sand sample, 500ml, of each of fine, medium and coarse sand sample
was taken in cylindrical container and its weight was taken.
D. Then the weight of dry sand samples was obtained by subtracting weight of empty
cylindrical container from total weight of dry sand sample and cylindrical
container.
E. Then 1% of water by weight of dry sand was added to dry sand was added to dry
sand sample in cylindrical container and it was mixed thoroughly by shaking
cylindrical container.
F. After mixing sand sample with water properly volume of sand sample was
measured.
G. The above procedure was repeated by increasing the percentage of water added to
the sand until the bulking of sand attained the maximum value and then reduced
ultimately to zero.

Observations and Calculations:

Sample: Fine sand (0.075mm-0.425mm)
Volume of dry sand taken = 500ml
Weight of dry sand sample= 750gm

Fine aggregate
Volume of
S. % Water Final Volume Increased in % Increase in
water added Remarks
N Content of sand (gm) volume (gm) volume
(ml)
1 0 0 500 0 0  
2 1 7.6 540 40 8  
3 2 15.6 550 50 10  
4 3 22.8 555 55 11  
5 4 30.4 560 60 12  
6 5 38 580 80 16  
7 6 45.6 590 90 18  
8 7 53.2 590 90 18  
9 8 60.8 570 70 14  
10 9 68.4 570 70 14  
11 10 76 565 65 13  
12 12 91.6 560 60 12  
13 14 107.2 560 60 12  
14 16 121.6 560 60 12  
15 18 136.8 550 50 10  
16 20 152.4 540 40 8  
17 25 190.4 520 20 4  
18 30 220.8 498 2 0.4

Maximum percentage of bulking of fine sand= 18%

Sample: Medium sand (0.425mm-2.000mm)
Volume of dry sand taken = 500ml
Weight of dry sand sample= 817.4 gm

Medium aggregate
Volume of
S. Water Final Volume Increased in % Increase in
water added Remarks
N Content of sand (gm) volume (gm) volume
(ml)
1 0 0 500 0 0  
2 1 8.2 550 50 10  
3 2 16.4 570 70 14  
4 3 24.6 600 100 20  
5 4 32.8 590 90 18  
6 5 41 580 80 16  
7 6 49.2 580 80 16  
8 7 57.4 570 70 14  
9 8 65.6 570 70 14  
10 9 73.8 560 60 12  
11 10 82 560 60 12  
12 12 91.2 560 60 12  
13 14 99.4 550 50 10  
14 16 107.6 540 40 8  
15 18 115.8 520 20 4  
16 20 124 500 0 0  
Maximum bulking of medium sand=20%

Sample: Coarse sand (2.000mm-4.750mm)

Volume of dry sand taken = 500ml
Weight of dry sand sample= 780gm

Coarse aggregate
Volume of
S. Water Final Volume Increased in % Increase in
water added Remarks
N Content of sand (gm) volume (gm) volume
(ml)
1 0 0 500 0 0  
2 1 7.6 525 25 5  
3 2 14.4 535 35 7  
4 3 21.6 550 50 10  
5 4 30.4 540 40 8  
6 5 38 535 35 7  
7 6 45.6 530 30 6  
8 7 53.2 530 30 6  
9 8 60.8 525 25 5  
 10 9 68.4 525 25 5  
11 10 76 520 20 4  
12 11 83.6 510 10 2  
13 12 91.2 505 5 1  
14 14 106.4 505 5 1  
15 16 121.6 504 4 0.8  
16 18 136.8 502 2 0.4  
17 20 182 500 0 0  
Maximum bulking of coarse sand=10%

Bulking Percentage of
Moisture
Coarse Remarks
% Fine Sand Medium Sand
Sand
0 0 0 0  
1 8 10 5  
2 10 14 7  
3 11 20 10  
4 12 18 8  
5 16 16 7  
6 18 16 6  
7 18 14 6  
8 14 14 5  
9 14 12 5  
10 13 12 4  
12 12 12 2  
14 12 10 1  
16 12 8 1  
18 10 4 0.8  
20 8 0 0.4  
25 4 0 0  
30 0.4 0 0
                              

Bulking of sand
30

25

20
Bulking percent(%)

15

10

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

Moisture percent(%)

bulking percent of fine sand bulking percent of medium sand bulking percent of coarse sand

Discussion and conclusion:

It can be found that bulking of sand depends upon the moisture in the sand.
The bulking of sand is simply the looseness of soil without compacting. Usually, water reduces
the pores of sand and compacts the sand. After doing the work, we did some calculation to find
out the bulking of sand( i.e fine medium and coarse).
It can be concluded that if we don’t consider the bulkage of sand, the total
quantity will be lessened and will impact on the overall concrete quality. If the bulking of sand is
not determined it will affect the yield of concrete for a given cement content.
Result:
From the whole process the following results are obtained:
Maximum % of bulking of fine sand =18% at 6% water content
Maximum %of bulking of medium sand = 20% at 3% water content
Maximum % of bulking of coarse sand= 10% at 3% water content
Precaution:
1. All the weighing should be done very accurately.
2. No sand particles should be lost while filling or emptying the pot.
3. Mix the water in the sand uniformly.