Introduction

Background
Concrete is a composite civil engineering construction material which maid with cement
water and aggregate basically, additionally in ready mix industry, several types of admixtures are
used to achieve specialized properties. Concrete properties can be changes according to the raw
material properties. Aggregate can be divided into two categories as fine aggregate and coarse
aggregate. Altogether fine and coarse aggregate represents around 75% of total concrete volume.
Therefore, aggregate properties are directly impacted to the concrete performance. Fine aggregate
does vital role for the concrete workability. (Jadhav and Kulkarni , 2012)

The requirement of natural sands for construction industry is high due to the demand of
concrete in civil construction industry. Natural aggregate consumption is high in developing
countries because of infrastructure development. In conventional concreting, river sand used as the
fine aggregate. Annual river sand consumption in Sri Lanka is around 8 million cubic meters.
(Jayawardena and Dissanayake, 2006) Environmental impact are significantly high due to high
extraction of river sand from riverbeds. Riverbank slides, water table lowering, deepening rivers and
disturbance for aquatic life are some of environmental impacts. To reduce the above issues
alternative solutions has been found for river sand. Quarry dust and manufactured sand are used
most in civil construction industry in Sri Lanka, especially in Colombo district.

There are numbers of procedures to produce manufactured sand. Quarry dust washing is
one of them. By the way all the manufactured sand production procedures require washing
procedure due to high availability of fine particles in crushed stones. Thus, manufactured sand can
be obtained different percentages of moisture. According to the previous studies, manufactured
sand water absorption and water demand for the concrete workability has been indicated quite high
value than river sands. According to the rough surface texture and having angular shape particles,
the water demand is high in manufactured sand than river sand. (Elavenil & Vijaya, 2013) Poon et al,
2003 has found that significant relation between workability and moisture state of aggregate.
According to their study, concrete which done with using oven dried fine aggregate has indicated
higher slump value than concrete which done with air dried and surface saturated dry condition fine
aggregate. They have concluded that initial slump extremely dependent on free water content for
the concrete mix. (Poon et al, 2004)

According to the auther experience, the moisture condition of manufactured sand in sri
lanka vary between 1.0% to 8.5%. Due to high variation of moisture content, initial slump variations
can be accured when concrete batch calculation with conventional moisture correction method.
Previous research done up to surface saturated dry condition only. (Poon et al, 2004) This study is
focused on high rage variation of moisture conditions of manufactured sand to determine the
relation between the free water content and the workability of the concrete after the moisture
correction.
Aim & Objectives
To investigate a correction factor between actual moisture contribution and measured
moisture content in manufactured sand as fine aggregate in concrete for a selected mix design.

 Investigate of moisture state variation of fine aggregate in ready-mix concrete industry in Sri
Lanka – Colombo district.
 Identify the properties of selected fine aggregate used for concrete
 Identify the workability and strength on selected mix design as a control mix
 Investigate the relation between moisture variation, workability and compressive strength.
 Formulate a correction factor to moisture correction for various moisture conditions in fine
aggregate
 Cross check the formulated correction factor

Literature Review
Concrete is a composite building material contains two basic component which are
aggregate and paste. The combination of cement, cementitious material, admixtures and water
represents the paste and fine aggregate and coarse aggregate represent the aggregate. The paste
does the necessary task for bond the aggregate in concrete. As a result of chemical reaction in
between cement and water aggregates get bond. Natural and manufactured sands are used as fine
aggregate in concrete. Generally, aggregates which consists particle size less than 9.5mm are
identified as fine aggregate. Coarse aggregates are classified as particle size in between 1.18mm and
150mm. In use of concrete, coarse aggregates are not exceeding particle size 40mm. 19mm is the
maximum aggregate size in the most common use, and 25mm, 40mm and 14mm aggregates are
used in special cases.

Total paste volume is varied between 25% to 40% from total volume of the concrete. All the
cementitious material, water, admixture and entrapped or entrained air represents the paste
volume. Total aggregate volume is varied 75% to 60%. According to the higher aggregate presenting
in concrete volume, quality of aggregate gives major impact for the concrete properties. Quality of
the concrete is depended on quality of the paste and aggregates. Therefore, suitable materials
should be used to produce good and quality concrete. Aggregate gradation and material proportions
are directly impacted to the homogeneous and uniformity concrete production. However,
aggregates’ property variations are mostly occurred. Therefore, minor adjustments of the mix
proportions need to be done to obtain same quality concrete product. Aggregates are get coated by
cementitious paste and bond together. The gaps between aggregates are filled with paste and it
helps to make mix lubricant and workable.

Water to cement ratio is the key factor which is effects directly for the strength. High water
content leads to dilute cement paste and coarse to have lower strength. By reducing water to
cement ration, good strength can be obtained with minimum cement content. Apart from strength,
reduce shrinkage cracks, lower permeability, lower water absorption, high flexural strength and
lesser effects from wetting and drying can be identify as the advantages from reducing water.

Concrete needs good workability to placement. Workability requirement is differed

according to the type of the place where going to pour concrete, reinforcement pattern, thickness
etc. There are numbers of factors that effects for the workability. Water – cement ratio,
cementitious material content, aggregate surface texture, aggregate gradation, fine aggregate
fineness module, aggregate proportions, admixture dosage and admixture type are the key factors
which effects for the concrete workability. (Association, 2003)

Performance and durability of concrete are directly affected by fine aggregate properties.
therefore, fresh and hardened concrete properties can be depending upon fine aggregate
properties. Natural river sand and pit sands are used as fine aggregate in most common concrete
practice. Demand of natural sand is high due to the high requirement of concrete in construction
industry. In developing countries like Sri Lanka and India, there are numbers of infrastructure
development projects which are with high concrete consumption. Thus, construction industry is
facing shortage of well graded and good quality natural sand. Therefore, manufactured sand is
invented as the solution and alternation for natural river sand for concrete industry. (Dolage et al,
2013)

Concrete is a product which is dealing with large amount of natural materials. Therefore,
natural materials properties are fluctuated. Due to those reasons, concrete quality control
procedures are most important task in the Ready-mix concrete industry. Variation of raw material
properties affects for the concrete fresh and hardened properties. Fine and coarse aggregate
gradation and water absorption values are directly affecting for the concrete workability. There are
limitations for the fine and coarse aggregate gradation and particle shapes to obtain the good
quality, workable and lubricant concrete. Specially in Ready-mix concrete industry, concrete is
subjected to high rise and long-distance pumping. Concrete should be segregation free to avoid
pump line blocks when pumping the concrete. Flakiness and elongation of aggregate are affected for
the less concrete workability. Therefore, there are limitation for those kinds of values. (Ömer et al,
2007)

Manufactured sand is a production is done by crushing rock deposits. Manufactured sand

gerenary consist rough surfaces, angular shape and high microfine content competitively natural
river sand (particle size less than 0.075mm). According to the previous studies, concrete quality can
be vary due to the quality and the quantity of the microfines in manufactured sand. Manufactured
sand is produced by in two methods. Quarry dust or crusher sand can be converted to manufactured
sand by washing out the microfines to reduce the high microfine percentage due to quarry dust
consist arround 20% of microfines. (Junfei et al, 2020) Advanced manufactured sand production
method is purposly crush the rocks to required gradations and wash out unnecessory microfines
particles. According to the Chen et al, 2020, microfines percentage less than 10% is most suitable for
the concrete production. To minimize the microfines percentage in eath method of production
manufactured sand are used washing method. Due to the washing method, manufactured sand is
having high moisture content. Moisture percentages can be varied upon the duration, method of
stocking, method of transportation and climate changes. These effects can be directly impact for
quality of the concrete production. (Chen et al, 2020)

Raw material tests are done to control the quality of ready-mix concrete. Gradation, water
absorption specific gravity tests are the basic tests which are done in house regularly. Cement
consistency and fineness tests are done to identify the cement quality. Moisture percentage test is a
one of most important tests which is should be done prior to each concrete production. To control
the water to cement ratio in the concrete mix, concrete batch calculation needs to be done
according to the moisture calculation. Free water content can be identified as the water content
which get after the batch weight calculation according to the moisture percentages. Main purpose of
the batch weight calculation is to control the water content and remain the design water to cement
ratio in practical situation. (João et al, 2019) Free water content is directly depending on the
aggregate surface moisture conditions. When aggregate surface moisture is high, less free water
content represent due to the calculation. Thus, in extreme conditions such as aggregate having high
moisture content are having practical problems in concrete workability due to less free water
content.

Poon et al, 2004 has found that less free water content in concrete mixes are having less
workability even though aggregate moisture represents the remain water content and water to
cement ratio also consist the same amount with recycled aggregate and natural river sand. Several
concrete trials were done with same mix designs and different moisture levels in fine aggregates
while coarse aggregate and all other variables consists same. Higher moisture level in fine aggregate
represent less free water content and less moisture level represent high free water content.
According to the trial series, concrete mixes with high moisture content in fine aggregate indicate
less workability and less moisture content mixes indicate high workability. To test the workability,
slump tests has done. To check compressive strength of the concrete, cube crushing tests has done
in 28 days. (Poon et al, 2004)

Methodology
To investigate a correlation in between concrete properties and moisture percentage in
manufactured sand as fine aggregate, lab trail series need to be done with different level of moisture
conditions in manufacture sand.

Manufactured sand investigation to be done to identify and understand the impact of

moisture variation in Ready-mix concrete industry in Colombo region Sri Lanka. Questionnaires has
done in previous researches to identify the most suitable and practicable solutions by industrially
involved parties. (João et al, 2019)

Its important to get ideas from quality control staffs in Ready-mix concrete industry. To
select the moisture range, which is mostly used in industry, grades done with manufactured sand,
admixture types used with manufactured sand and impact in moisture variation are the focus points
from the questionnaires. Minimum sample which is going to subjected to questionnaires should not
be smaller than 15%. (Ruoyu el al, 2015)

There are numbers of characteristic and tests of aggregate to use quality control tasks in
ready-mix concrete industry. Gradation, specific gravity and water absorption tests can be identified
as most important tests for concrete designing and concrete testing.

Sieve analysis tests are done for fine and coarse aggregates. According to the BS 812-103.1
standard sieve tests are done to identify the gradation and fineness modules. Fine aggregates are
done with different size of sieves and coarse aggregate test done with another size of sieves. Test
samples are prepared by sample divider. Around 2kg of sample use for each test. Sieves are
subjected to shake around 5 minutes by a mechanical shaker. Retained particles on each sieve are
measured to calculate retained percentages. By reducing cumulative retained percentages from
100%, can be obtained passing percentages. According to the fine and coarse aggregate gradation,
fine and coarse aggregate ratios are calculated for the mix design.
 Coarse aggregate specific gravity and water absorption test are done according to the BS
812-02 standard. Samples are prepared by sample divider according to the BS 812-102. Balance not
less than 3kg and 0.5g of accuracy which can be used for the specific gravity table, specific gravity
table, mesh basket, well ventilated oven, towels and trays are required for the test. Aggregate
sample should be prepared using sample divider according to the BS standard. Sample weight should
be greater than 2kg. Aggregate sample is soak 24h to absorb the water. After the 24h, sample is
prepared to surface saturated dry condition. By damping excess water from the aggregate surfaces
can be prepared surface saturated aggregate sample. Two samples are subjected to test to get a well
accurate result. Weight of the samples in air are measured by a scale. For the calculation purpose,
weights of the aggregate in air are named as ‘’A’’. Samples are placed in the wire mesh bracket and
immerse in the water to get the weight of the aggregate in the water. Wire mesh basket and specific
gravity table (Figure 1) is used to measure the aggregate weight in the water. Weight or the
aggregate with wire mesh basket is measured and named as ‘’B’’. Weight if the wire mesh in the
water also need to be measured and named as ‘’C’’ for the specific gravity calculation. Aggregate
samples are subjected to dry using well ventilated oven after measure the weight of the aggregate in
the water and dried aggregate weight names as ‘’D’’ for calculation purpose. Calculations for specific
gravity and water absorption are as follows. (Mishra, 2020)

Where,

A = Weight of surface saturated dry aggregate sample

B = Weight of surface saturaded dry aggregate sample and wire mesh bucket in the water

C = Weight of wire mesh bucket in the water

D = Weight of dry aggregate sample

Figure 1 - Specific Gravity Table (Mishra, 2020)
 Fine aggregate specific gravity and water absorption tests also done according to the BS 812-
2 standard. Scale which is not less than 3kg and 0.5g accuracy, well ventilated oven, glass vessel
(pycnometer), hair dryer, water tied tray, air tied container, container, 75µm sieve BS standard,
supply of water, plain glass funnel, metal mould and metal tamper (SSD cone or sand cone)
apparatus are required for the fine aggregate specific gravity and water absorption tests. Two
samples are required to arrange according to the sampling procedure to get well accurate results.
Initially micro fine particles of fine aggregate need to be washed out prior to the test done. Fine
aggregate samples to be soak 24 hours in water to absorb the water. After the 24 hours at least two
samples need to be prepared for the as surface saturated condition for the testing. Metal mould and
tamper used to determine the condition of the sample whether SSD, dry or wet. After dried of
samples by hair dryer which are soak in water certain time, samples are subjected to check SSD
condition by filling into the sand cone and tamping by tamping rod (Figure 2).

Figure 2 – Tamping sand using the cone to determine SSD (AASHTO, 2004)

Sand sample need to be identified whether wet, dry or SSD according to its behaviour using
sand cone test. If the moisture is present in the sand, the sand will retain the mould shape without
having slump. BS 812-2 standard has given proper indicates to identify the Surface Saturated dry
sand samples for the testing. According to the Figure 3, Surface saturates dry sample should be
collapsed almost and peak must be visible as ‘’c)’’ in Figure 3.
 Figure 3 - Estimation of free-running condition of
fine aggregate (BS 812-2,1995)

Place measured sample of surface saturated dry sand in the pycnometer and fill the
pycnometer with water, sample weight should be around 500g. Surface saturated dry ample mass
named as ‘’A’’ for the calculation purpose. Pycnometer (with sand and water) mass measured and
named as ‘’B’’. Empty the pycnometer to a tray carefully ensuring that all sand particles transfer to
the tray without wasting or missing. Place the sample tray in the well-ventilated oven to get dry
condition. Fill the pycnometer with water, measure and named the mass as ‘’C’’. When get the sand
sample dried and cooled down to the room temperature around 25 °C, sample mass needs to be
measured and named as ‘’D’’ for the calculation purpose. Calculations are as follows.

,
 Where,

A = Weight of surface saturated dry fine aggregate sample

B = Weight of surface saturaded dry aggregate sample and pycnometer with water

C = Weight of pycnometer with full of water

D = Weight of dry fine aggregate sample

When done the basic aggregate testing, mix design and control mix lab trials to be done. Mix
design need to be done according to the DEO method. Design target strength need to be determined
according to the code specifications. Target strength can be identified as following equation,

Where,

fm = Target strength
fc = Specified characteristic strength (Concrete grade)
s = Standard deviation
k = Constant depending on the defective level associated with the specified strength
According to target strength, type of cement and aggregate, water to cement ratio is
determined according to the code. Next step is, determine the water content according to
the required workability, aggregate type and size. Total cementitious material weight can be
identified as cement content. Cement content can be calculated by using water to cement
ratio (W/C) and water content. Wet density of the concrete for one cubic meter can be
determined using relative density of combined aggregates and water content. After
determining the density of the concrete, all aggregate weight can be calculated by
subtracting cement and water weights from above mentioned wet density. Fine aggregate
percentage can be decided according to the fineness modulus, water content, required
workability and maximum aggregate size. All the graphs which required for the concrete
designing are given in the BS Concrete Mix Design (DOE Manual). (BS Concrete Mix Design –
DOE)
When done proper mix design, lab trials need to be done to make sure fresh and
hardened properties of the concrete design. Code says that fine tuning can be done for the
practical variations and available materials after confirming the lab trails.
After confirming the mix design, lab trail series can be done with various moisture
levels in manufactured sand to determine the correlation between concrete properties and
moisture variation in manufactured sand as fine aggregate in concrete. All the material
samples to be collected in same day to avoid the variation which can affects for the concrete
properties. Coarse aggregate samples shall be kept in nearly SSD condition. Manufactured
sand samples need to be prepared with different moisture levels. Maximum moisture
percentage for the trail series can be obtained from questionnaires done with people who
engage with ready-mix concrete industry.
Moisture contents of aggregate are to be measured prior to the lab trail. Wet
aggregate samples are measured and dried by well ventilated oven. Difference of the wet
and dried mass divided by dry mass. According to the moisture percentages, batch weights
are calculated.

(Association, 2003)
Slump test is done to identify the workability of concrete batch. Slump cone, slump
rod, base plate, scoop and ruler are required for the test. Concrete is to be filled with three
layers and each layer get 25 times of tamping by 16mm tamping rod. When done the
tamping, the slump cone shall be lifted slowly. The different of the height between slump
cone and concrete called slump value (Figure 4) . (BSEN 12350-2, 1990)

Figure 4-Slump Test

 When done fresh concrete parameters identification, concrete cubes need to be
casted to determine the concrete strength. Concrete test specimens are made by using
concrete cube moulds. Cube mould, tamping rod and scoop are required to the cube
casting. Cubes are filled with concrete by three layers and each concrete layer need to be
tamped with 25mmx25mm tamping rod 35 times for a proper compaction. Casted concrete
cubes to be demoulded after 24 hours and let to cure in a water tank around 25°C
temperature. (BSEN 12390-2, 2000)
After certain curing period, compressive strength test can be done. 7 days and 28
days cube strength are checked in most commpn practice. Weight of the cubes to be
measured to determine the density of the concrete. Test specimens are subjected to
compresion by mechanical compresive machine and failure load shall be indicate when
achchive the maximum load which capalbe for the test speciment. Cube strength can be
calculated by failure load diveded by surface area of the test specimen. (BSEN 12390-3,
2001)
When done concrete trail series with manufactured sand which are having different
moisture levels while all other properties are remaining constant correction factor can be
determine. Using correlation formulas, relation between workability and moisture variation
can be observed and correction factor can be formulated using collected and invented
results. (Poon et al,2004)
After formulating the correction factor, cross check needs to do by doing lab trials to
confirm and get accurate conclusion. Manufactured sand needs to be used with moisture
variations while other all parameters and raw material properties remaining similar
conditions.

Result and Discussion

To investigate and identify usage of manufactured sand and properties of manufacture sand
in ready-mix concrete industry specially in Colombo region, questionnaire was done with quality
control staff in ready-mix concrete industry. According to the Lanka Ready-Mix Association, 27
numbers of ready-mix companies has registered in their organisation. 23 numbers out of 27 ready-
mix plants were used for the survey to collect the information.