Chapter-10 Construction Materials

• The term 'construction minerals' is used to describe

all minerals, soils and rocks used by the construction
industry,
– for example those use in road construction,
– house construction,
– Dam construction,
– railway construction and
– other engineering structures.
• During any engineering structure construction, to
have the stable and economic engineering structure, it
is essential to identify suitable sources of
construction material by considering different
suitability factors.
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Factors those determine the suitability condition of the
Construction materials:
• Volume of material
• Geological structures which control the workability and
block size of the quarry material
• Overburden material which affect the economy of the
project
• Transportation cost (distance of the source site)
• Weathering degree of the rock
• Engineering properties of the material
• slope angle (topography) of the site
• population density of the site
• land use/ land covers of the site
• Accessibility of the site
• workability of the material and others.
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 10.1. Construction Materials in Engineering
1. Dimension Stone
• It is the principal load-bearing material of buildings, bridges and others,
now its function largely taken over by concrete, brick and steel
• High compressive, shear strengths, hardness and durability for load-
bearing
– E.g. granite, massive sandstone, limestone and other igneous rocks
2. Roofing Rock Materials:
• Rocks used for roofing purposes must possess a sufficient degree of
fissility to split into thin slabs
• durable and impermeable material
• Slate is one of the best roofing materials and has been used extensively
and also used for paving when the cleavage is not so fine
3. Facing Materials:
• Facing and Flooring Rock construction materials are used for the
decorative of building walls and floors.
– E.g. A wider variety of porphyritic igneous rocks, marbles, Serpentine, tuffs,
fossiliferous limes and others are used as facing and paving (flooring)
materials

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4. Armourstone
• Armourstone refers to large blocks of rock that
are used to protect civil engineering structures
– E.g. -Rip-rap are used to protect the upstream face of
dams from the wave action of water
– it also serve as scour prevention from bridge piers
– it is used in coastal engineering for protection of sea
walls by breaking sea waters wave
• To have good quality Armourstone material:
– the size, grading, shape, density, water absorption,
abrasion resistance, impact resistance, strength
and durability of the rock material used for
armourstone must be considered during the design
stage of a particular project.
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 Aggregate Construction Material
• It is the granular or particulate material that we have use in
different engineering structures as it is or by mixing with
other material such as cement, bitumen and others
• The two principal types of aggregate are crushed rock
aggregate and natural gravel aggregate.
• Most of the time the properties of an aggregate are related
to the texture and mineralogical composition of the rock
from which it was derived.
– E.g. the higher the porosity and the larger the grain size, the
lower the crushing strength.
• The coarse-grained igneous rocks are not as suitable as
the fine-grained, as they crush more easily.
• On the other hand, the very-fine-grained and glassy
volcanics are unsuitable since they produce chips with
sharp edges when crushed, and they tend to develop a high
polishing value.
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• Crushed Rock for Concrete Aggregate
• Concrete is formed from the mixtures of rock
aggregate, sand, cement and water and used in
different engineering structures.
• Approximately 75% of the volume of concrete
consists of aggregate, therefore its properties have
a significant influence on the engineering
behavior of concrete.
• The main factors those control suitability
condition of the concrete aggregate are:
1. Aggregate Shape,
2. alkali reaction capacity and
3. shrinkage capacity of an aggregate
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1. Aggregate Shape
• The shape of aggregate particles that governed
mainly by the fracture pattern of the rock can control
the suitability condition of the concrete aggregate
• The angular shaped aggregate particles has high
interlocking capacity than the tabular- or planar-
shaped aggregate particles.
• Most of the time the shape of the aggregate can be
depend on the rock type
– E.g. Rocks such as basalts, dolerites, andesite, granites,
quartzite and limestone tend to produce angular
fragments when crushed, while foliated and laminated
rocks have a tendency to form a tabular or planar-shaped
aggregate particles.
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2. Alkali Reaction Capacity of an Aggregate
• The siliceous aggregate material those contain opal,
chalcedony, flint, chert, greywacke and volcanic glass
can undergo the chemical reaction when it used with the
alkali cement those having high content of Na2O and K2O.
– E.g Portland cement
• Due to this alkali chemical reaction the concrete is
expanded and crack, thereby it looses its strength
• When concrete is wet, the alkalis that are released are
dissolved by water and form the caustic solution that
attacks reactive aggregates and produce alkali–silica gels
• These gels can absorb more water and develop the
pressure that causes rupturing of the cement around
reacting aggregate particles.
• Therefore to avoided these problems a preliminary
petrological examination of the aggregate must be
conducted.
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• Based on the petrological examination the material that
contains > 0.25% opal, > 5% chalcedony or > 3% glass
by weight must be rejected for the concrete aggregate.
Otherwise it must be used as the concrete aggregate
with low-alkali cement which contains less than 0.6% of
Na2O and K2O.
• The reactivity of an aggregate is not depend only on the
composition but also to the percentage of strained quartz
that a rock contains.
• For instance the rock aggregates containing 40% or more
of strongly adulatory or highly granulated quartz were
highly reactive, whereas those with between 30% and
35% were moderately reactive
• The basaltic rocks with 5% or more secondary chalcedony
or opal, or about 15% aragonite, Sandstones containing 5%
or more chert and Certain argillaceous dolostones can show
deleterious reactions with high-alkali cements.
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3. Shrinkage Capacity of an Aggregate
• It is the large wetting and drying volume fluctuation
of rock aggregate that can affect the total shrinkage
of concrete.
• This properties of rock aggregate is depend on the
percentage of clay material. Consequently, the
proportion of clay material in a fine aggregate should
not exceed 3%.
• The aggregates from basalt, gabbro, dolerite,
mudstone and greywacke have high shrinkage
capacity while the aggregates from Granite,
limestone, quartzite and felsites are not affected by
shrinkage
• In general it assumed that shrinkage of the aggregate
in concrete should not exceed 0.045%.
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A) Road Aggregate
• Aggregates are a basic material in both flexible pavement
and rigid pavement road construction.
• In general it has three primary uses in highway
construction:
1. It can Use as compacted aggregates in bases, subbase
and shoulders
2. It can use as ingredients in hot mix asphalt which can
serve as surfacing layer for flexible pavement road.
3. It can use as ingredients in Portland cement concrete
for the construction of rigid-pavement slabs, bridges,
concrete barriers, sidewalks, curbs, Retaining walls,
and other structures.
• Some times it can also used as special backfill material,
riprap and for other less significant purposes.
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1. Road aggregates for base course
• It is the road layer from Compacted aggregates without the addition of a
cementing material or bitumen
• In the rigid pavements the importance of base course is to improve the
drainage and to cover a material that is highly susceptible to frost.
• Here gradation and soundness are the primary considerations in
selecting or evaluating aggregates
• In the flexible pavement it use to carry and transmit the applied loads.
• gradation and strength of the aggregate must be evaluated
2. Road aggregates for subbase
• It is also the road layer from Compacted aggregates without the
addition of a cementing material or bitumen
• Most of the time the natural gravel can be used in this layer
• The shape and surface texture of the natural gravel can be influenced by
transportation agents, initial shape of the fragment, and transportation
distance
• Based on their shape Gravel particles can be classified as rounded,
irregular, angular, flaky and elongated

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3. Road aggregate for asphalt layer
• Most of the time it prepared from crushed rocks
• It must has high resistance to abrasion, low porosity,
high binding capacity with bitumen, non coating
surface, high polishing resistance, non flaky
material, high weathering resistance, high crushing
value and etc.
• Acid igneous rocks do not mix well with bitumen as
they have poor ability to absorb it while basic
igneous rocks such as basalt and dolerite possess a
high affinity for bitumen, as does limestone.
• The suitable rocks for asphalt aggregate can be
massive and has fine-medium grain size texture
– E.g. basalt, dolerite, fine granite, greywacke, quartzite,
hornfels, flint etc.
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B) Railroad Aggregate
• To withstand the high speed and high load of train
the railroad must has high engineering quality
I. Ballast aggregate: it is one of the railway
substructure layer that constructed from the course
aggregate and laid between the sleeper.
• Ballast Perform the Following Functions:
– Retain the sleeper in position by withstanding the
vertical, lateral and longitudinal forces
– Provide elasticity and dynamic resistance to the track
superstructure
– Distributing the stress from the sleeper over the large
area of the underling layers
– Preventing vegetation growth in the track
– Provide free drainage and others
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II. Sub Ballast Aggregate
• It is one of the track substructure that placed in
between ballast and sub-grade and perform the
following functions:
– Reducing the stress level from ballast to sub-grade
– Preventing the interpenetration of ballast material
into the sub-grade
– Preventing the emigration of fine sub-grade
material into ballast layer
• Most of the time like the Highway base course
and sub-base layers, sub-ballast can be
constructed from crushed stone or Natural gravels
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C. Construction material for zoned Embankment
Dam
I. Core material: it is the barrier layer to the flow of
water through the dam. This material need to
develop high shear strength, low permeability, low
water absorption and undergo minimal settlement.
II. Filter material: it is the permeable layer next to the
core and use to prevent the migration of particles
from the core to the shell layer
III. Downstream shell material: it is the layer next to
the filter in the downstream. Its primary function is
to support the core and filter under any condition. To
perform its function this layer must be constructed
form strong and stable material such as gravel
and rocks
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IV. Transitional zones material: this layer is serve
as additional filter when the grain size of core
material and shell layer material is greatly differ
V. Upstream shell material: like the downstream
shell its function is to support the core and other
inner layers. However it is submerged by
reservoir water and subjected to its function
VI. Riprap zone material: it is the outer layer of
the dam after the upstream shell layer. Its main
function is to prevent other layers from wave
action of reservoir water.

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10.2. Tests of Construction Materials
1. Polished Stone Value Test
• It can influences the skid resistance of an aggregate by
reducing the surface roughness of aggregate particles
• The aggregate in the bended road line is polish up to
seven times more rapidly than the aggregate in the
straight road.
• The polishing of road aggregate is more significant when
the road surface is dry than wet
• In the case of igneous and contact metamorphic rocks the
good polishing resistance result from a variation in
hardness between the minerals present in the rock
• In sedimentary rocks, the presence of hard grains in a
softer matrix can improve the polishing resistance.

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2. Aggregate Crushing Value (ACV) test
• It is the mechanical properties of an aggregate that is
used to measure the resistance of an aggregate to
crushing under a gradual applied compressive load
or static load
• To perform this test the aggregate sample with 10-
14mm size is subjected to the static load that is
increased with a constant rate up to 400kN
• Than the fine material passing through 2.36mm sieve
is calculated as percentage of original weight of
tested sample and is used as ACV.
• = 2/ 1 100 M1= mass of the tested specimen
in g M2= mass of material passing the 2.36 mm sieve
in g
• The low ACV indicates the high crushing resistance
or good quality aggregate material. 21
3. Aggregate impact value (AIV) test
• It is one of the aggregate mechanical properties
which can be used to determine the resistance of an
aggregate to sudden shock or impact force
• To perform this test the aggregate sample with 10-14
mm size is subjected to 15 blows and the percentage
of fine material passing through 2.36 mm sieve is
calculated and used as AIV
• AIV=M2/ 1x100% Where M1=mass of the tested
specimen in g M2=mass of material passing the 2.36
mm sieve in g.
• Small AIV indicates the high resistance of an
aggregate to the impact force (the high quality
aggregate material)
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4. Soundness testing
• It use to determine how the aggregate can be
affected by the crystal growth in the pore space of
the aggregate from the precipitation of dissolved
pollutant (weathering resistance of material)
• It is accomplished by repeated immersion of
sample in to the saturated solutions of sodium or
magnesium sulfate and followed by oven drying
• Small soundness value indicates the high
resistance of an aggregate to weathering (the high
quality aggregate material)
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5. Specific gravity test
• It is the relative density or the ratio of the density of the
material to the density of distilled water at the stated
temperature
• This property of the construction material can controls the
stability condition of the engineering structures by affecting
both its vertical and horizontal holding capacity
• Thus, it implies that the material with high specific gravity
shows the heavier and more stable construction material
• It can be expressed as; oven-dry (OD) specific gravity,
saturated surface-dry (SSD) specific gravity or as apparent
specific gravity
• ( )= / −
• = / −
• ( )= / − Where: A = mass of oven-dry
test sample in air, g B = mass of saturated surface-dry test
sample in air, g C = apparent mass of saturated test sample in
water, g
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• Where:
• G= apparent (bulk) specific
gravity
• Wo= weight of the dried
rock (for 24 hr at 105oC)
• Ww= weight of fully
saturated rock (fully
immersed for 48 hr)
• Ws = weight of water
suspended rock
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• The amount of water
must be deducted from
the saturated weight to
get the true specific
gravity of the rock.
• A= Ww-Wo
• A= the amount of water
filling in the pore space of
the sample.

– E.g. Look at the

following table:
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6. Los Angeles Abrasion (LAA) value test
• This test can be used to measure the abrasive
wear resistance, toughness and durability of
the construction material under the contact force.
• The Los Angeles Abrasion value shows the
percentage of aggregate material passing a 1.6
mm sieve after the completion of the test.
• The more LAA value shows that the construction
material is more susceptible to fragmentation and
abrasion or it is unsuitable material.

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7. Water absorption value test
• The water absorption test of the construction
material shows the ability of material to absorb water
which indirectly use to determine the capacity of the
material to resist the rapid deterioration during
wetting & drying and freezing & thawing cycles of
the environment .
• This test is done by immersing the oven dry rock
material into the water to measure its water
absorption .
• Water absorption %= ( − /A) 100 Where; A= the
mass of oven-dry tested sample in g B= the mass of
saturated surface-dry tested sample in g.
• Low percentage of water absorption value indicates
high quality construction material.
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8. Aggregate Shape Tests
• The shape of an aggregate can control the
interlocking capacity of an aggregate.
• Flakiness index: it is the percentage of particles, by
weight, whose least dimension (thickness) is less
than 0.6 times their mean dimension.
• Elongation index: it is the percentage of particles,
by weight, whose greatest dimension (length) is
greater than 1.8 times their mean dimension.
• Angularity number: it is a measure of relative
angularity based on the percentage of voids in the
aggregate. The least angular aggregates have
about 33% voids, and the angularity number is
defined as the amount by which the percentage of
voids exceeds 33. The angularity number ranges
from 0 to about 12.
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9. Slake Durability Test
• This test can be used to measure the existence of clay
minerals such as montimorillonite in the rocks
which can cause the rapid breakdown of the rocks
due to theirs high water absorption (swelling)
capacity
• In addition to this the excessive clay material in
ballast rock can restrict the drainage and promote the
growth of vegetation in the ballast section and affect
the track performance.
10. Gradation Test
• This test can measure the condition of particle grain
size distribution in the construction material
• The gradation condition of construction material can
control the performance and stability condition of
engineering structures 31