J. King Saud Univ., Vol. 8, Eng. Sci. (1), pp. 109-120, (A.H.

1416/1996)

TECHNICAL NOTES

Strength, Water Absorption and Porosity of Concrete

Incorporating Natural and Crushed Aggregate

Saleh H. Alsayed and *Mohammad A. Amjad

Civil Engineering Dept., College of Engineering, P. o. Box 800,
King Saud University, *King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology,
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

(Received 1/12/1992; accepted for publication 24/10/1994)

Abstract. This paper presents the results of an extensive experimental program which was carried out to
study the influence of Riyadh area aggregates on the compressive strength, water absorption, and porosity
of the concrete. Parameters involved were crushed washed aggregate, natural unwashed aggregate, and
four different water cement ratios.
Natural aggregates are characterized'as porous limestone rocks with high water absorption, low bulk
specific gravity, excessively dusty degraded, and contain large quantities of very fine sand.
Test results indicate that with proper selection of mix proportions and adequate compaction both
aggregates can be used to produce concrete with ultimate compressive strength that is usually specified for
most concrete structural applications. Results also indicate that the natural aggregate concrete has less
compressive strength, less porosity and higher water absorption compared to that of concrete made with
crushed aggregate. This is true for 0.4, 0.45, 0.5, and 0.55 water cement ratios.

Introduction

Aggregates form about 75% of the volume of concrete, therefore, their parame-
ters such as shape, texture,' gradation, and maximum size have a major influence on
the properties and the overall behavior of the concrete. Aggregate shape and texture
primarily depend on whether the aggregate has been reduced to its current size by

109

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110 Saleh H .. Alsayed and Mohammed A. Amjad

natural agents or by crushing in an aggregate processing plant. Natural Aggregate

(NA) usually has a nearly spherical shape and smooth texture while the Crushed
Aggregate (CA), has an irregular angular shape and rough surface. Spherical parti-
cles have lower surface to volume ratio and, therefore, they need less mortar to
envelop them. On the other hand, irregular particles require more mortar and
develop stronger aggregate-mortar bond which leads to concrete of higher strength.

Aggregate gradation also affects the properties of concrete. If all particles of

aggregate are of uniform size, the aggregate may not be compacted properly. On the
contrary, if the aggregate is well graded and its particles are composed of different
sizes then at the time of compaction, the smaller particles fill the voids between the
larger ones. -Thus, concrete made of well graded aggregate is dense and contains
fewer voids.
The maximum size of aggregate is in direct proportion with its specific surface
area, therefore the amount of mixing water required to provide a certain level of
workability reduces with the increase of the maximum size of aggregate. Reduction
in the amount of water provokes an increase in the concrete strength and a reduction
of the -quantity of cement brings out an economically beneficial concrete, especially
for mass concrete construction.
Aggregates that are mined and used for concrete production in Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia, are predominantly porous limestone rocks with higher water absorption,
lower bulk specific gravity, excessively dusty and degraded and contain large quan-
tities of very fine sand. The very fine sand is 0.075 to 0.45 mm in diameter and consti-
tutes 8 to 35% by weight of fine aggregate [1-3]. Due to the peculiar nature of this
type of aggregate, question often arises as how the concrete made with such material
will behave.

In practice, more than 20% of the concrete mixes in Riyadh, incorporate Natu-
ral Unwashed Aggregate (NUA). Concrete made with such aggregate is used mostly
by contractors to construct private houses. The rest however are incorporating
Crushed Washed Aggregate (CWA) that is supplied by quarries located around the
Riyadh area. However, not enough information is available to reflect the effect of
those aggregate types on the overall behavior of the concrete.

This investigation was carried out to study the influence of the two types of
aggregate (NUA and CWA) on the behavior of concrete. The other variable in the
study was the water-cement ratio. Engineering properties considered include; com-
pressive strength, modulus of elasticity, modulus of rupture, water absorption and
porosity of concrete.
 Strength, Water Absorption and Porosity ofConcrete ... 111

Experimental Program

Materials
The material used in this test program consisted mainly of Ordinary Portland
Cement (OPC) type I, crushed washed and natural unwashed aggregates. Aggre-
gates gradations are shown in Tables 1 and 2 and their physical properties are tabu-
lated in Table 3.

Table 1. Comparison of the grading results of the fine aggregates with the ASTM grading limits

ASTMsieve Pre cent passing by weight

Washed Unwashed ASTMC-33

aggregate aggregate limits

4 98.48 100.0 95-100

8 69.01 80.14 SO--loo
16 41.38 61.83 50--85
30 23.61 38.77 25-60
50 11.37 18.76 10--30
100 4.28 8.89 2-10

Table.2. Comparison of the grading results with ASTM-C33 grading limits (different sizes)

ASTM Course agg. No. 3 to Coarse agg. No. 3/8 to Combined agg. 1-1/2"
sieve No. 4 No.4 toO

No. Washed ASTM Washed ASTM Unwashed *

1-1/2" 100 100 100 100 95-100
I" 100 100 100 90.71 65-85
3/4" 99.19 90--100 100 90--100 87.83 50--75
1/2" 46.25 20--55 92.47 40--70 78.83 35-60
3/8" 9.02 0--10 14.89 0--15 72.55 25-45
No.4 0--5 0.18 0--5 58.47 20--35
N~.8 46.87 15-30
No. 16 36.18 10--25
No. 30 22.71 5-15
No. 50 11.02 0--5
No. 10 5.03

*Read Note No. 4 type grading (ref. 22)

112 Saleh H .. AIsayed and Mohammed A. Amjad

Table 3. SSD specific gravity and absorption for washed and unwashed aggregates

Type material Specific gravity A~sorption 0/0

Washed sand 2.50 2.501

Washed agg. 20 mm 2.56 1.553

Washedagg.l0mm 2.57 1.541

Unwashed combined agg. 2.46 2.594

Concrete mix
The concrete mixes considered in the investigation are shown in Table 4. Series
A and B were composed of mixtures having CWA and NUA, respectively. The main
variable in the concrete mixes was the water cement (W/C) ratios. The recom-
mended ACI practice 211.1 [4, pp 1-34] was used in selecting the mix proportions of
all mixes. Mix number one (1) of series A and Mix number one (1) of series B were
composed of the same volume of aggregate, weight of cement, and weight of water.
Except for the weight of water, mixes.of the same series were identical. Concrete of
all mixes except for mix number one of series B was homogenous in appearance. The
slump varied from 70 to 95 mm. Mix number one of series B had a slump of 70 mm
and during the casting some segregation was observed. Other details of all the mixes
are shown in Table 4.

Table 4. Mix proportions

Washed Unwashed

Mix W/C Cement Total Sand Agg. Agg. Combination (agg

No. (kg) water (kg) 10mm 20 mm 10 mm + agg. 20
(Lt) (kg) (kg) mm+ sand)

l-A* 0.45 50 22.88+ 70 35 70

I-B** 0.45 50 22.95+ 201.84
2-A 0.5 50 25.38 70 35 70
2-B 0.5 50 25.59 201.84
3-A 0.55 50 27.89 70 35 70
3-B 0.55 50 28.09 201.84
4-A 0.6 50 30.39 70 35 70
4-B 0.6 50 30.6 201.84

*A = Crushed Washed Aggregate

**B = Natural Unwashed Aggregate
+ = Weight of the water adjusted to account for the water absorption
 Strength, Water Absorption and Porosity of Concrete ... 113 -

Test specimens and procedure

A total of thirty two 150 x 300 mm cylindrical specimens, sixteen 150 x 150 x
500 mm prisms, and sixteen 150 mm cubic specimens were cast. Half of the specimens
were of series A and the other half were of series B. Cylindrical specimens were used
to determining the compressive strength and modulus of elasticity, prisms to deter-
mine modulus of rupture, and cubes to determine water absorption and total porosity.

The specimens were demolded after 24 hours and cured continuously in a curing
tank at a temperature of 25°C for 27 days. Compressive strength, modulus of elastic-
ity and modulus of rupture tests wre performed according to ASTM C39[5] , ASTM
C 469[6], and ASTM C 78[7], respectively. Water absorption test of concrete was
carried out according to BS:1881: part 5[8]. Porosity was measured by total water
saturated method.

Test Results and Discussions

Strength
Table 5 shows the.compressive strength and modulus of rupture of concrete
specimens made using different W/C ratios. Results show that as far as the compres-
sive strength is concerned both aggregates, regardless of the water content, produced
concrete with an acceptable ultimate compressive strength, f~. Ho~ver, as
expected, J~ decreases as the W/C increased. Results also indicate that/f~,lor con-
crete made with CWA is always higher than the corresponding f ~ for concrete made
with NUA (see Fig. 1). The average difference is 22% and the difference increases
with increasing W/C ratios. This observation contradicts the findings of other resear-

Table S. Compressive strength, modulus of elasticity, water absorption and porosity of concrete

Mix W/C Strength Modulus of Elasticity Water Porosity,

(MPa) rupture (GPa) absorption total
(MPa) at 6 MPa (%) volume (%)

A 0.45 42 3.8 31.6 4.48 4.1

B 0.45 33.1 2.5- 27.3 5.30 3.04

A 0.5 39.7 3.15 27.2 4.69 5.45

B 0.5 33.0 2.4 27.6 5.31 4.03

A 0.55 37.4 2.9 25.0 5.03 7.89

B 0.55 28.6 2.32 20.0 5.75 4.87

A 0.6 36.3 3.0 25.0 4.45 8.47

B 0.6 25.4 2.1 21.0 5.28 5.8
114 Saleh H .. AIsayed and Mohammed A. Amjad

45

40

35

C? 30
CL
6
:E, 25
c
~
~ 20
> A = CWA Concrete
"en
en
B = NUA Concrete
~ 15
E
0
()
10

0
0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65
Water/cement ratio

Fig. 1. Relationship between compressive strength and water/cement ratio.

chers [9, pp·453-465] [15].-This may be attributed to the higher water absorption of
the NUA (see Table 3) due to the presence of excessive amount of the fine and por-
ous particles. The excess amount of fine particles presents in the natural unwashed
aggregate concrete (NUAC) makes it inevitable to use higher W/C ratio.

Compressive strength is customarily used to estimate many of the engineering

properties of the concrete. Of the various properties of concrete which have received
special attention from researchers are modulus of rupture and modulus of elasticity.

Measured values of the moduli of rupture of the crushed washed aggregate con-
crete (CWAC) and (NUAC) are shown in column 4 of Table 5. Results show that the
modulus of rupture of the CWAC is always higher than the corresponding modulus
of rupture of the NUAC. This agrees with the compressive strength results. Many
empirical relaitonships which relate the compressive strength to modulus of rupture
have been developed earlier. One of the most commonly used in the field of struc-
tural concrete is the ACI formula and is given by [16].
 Strength, Water Absorption and Porosity of Concrete ... 115

I r = 0.7 (I~)O.5 (1)

Where I ~ is the compressive strength and fr is the modulus of rupture of the con-
crete in MPa.

Comparisons of the results indicate that equation 1 overestimated the moduli of

rupture of CWAC and NUAC by an average of 16% and 300/0, respectively. The high
error in estimating the modulus of rupture of NUAC may be attributed to the pre-
sence of high amount of fine sand and the deleterious materials in the NA. However
it is believed that the modulus of rupture of NUAC could have been better estimated
had the aggregate been washed before use.

The moduli of elascity of CWAC and NUAC are also presented in column 6 of
Table 5. The tendency of the results is comparable to that of the moduli of rupture.
Here, the error in estimating the moduli of elasicity for both type of aggregates using
the ACI formula (shown below as equation No. 2( is 9 % . The error is not as high as
that of the moduli of rupture.
(2)

where I ~ = compressive strength of concrete specimen in MPa

E e = modulus of elasticity of conc(ete in MPa

In general, the empirical relationships have the advantage of simplicity, but

engineers should be aware of their limitations.

Water absorption
The water absorption for the two series of concrete is shown in Table 5 and Fig.
2. It can be seen in the table that the water absorption, for both series, increases as
the W/C ratio increases. The maximum absorption was observed at W/C ratio of
0.55. As the W/C ratio becomes larger than 0.55, water absorption decreases. This
decrease could be due to excess amount of water available for hydration and there-
fore more pores near to the surface of the specimens being blocked by the hydration
products of OPC. Similar observation was also made by AI-Amri[17]. Although the
water absorption cannot be used as a measure of the quality of the good c?ncrete, the
observed values are within the ranges of those of the good one[18]. Results also
reveal that water absorption of the CWAC specimens is lower than that of the
NUAC. This may be ascribed to the effect of the aggregate type where the natural
aggregate absorbs more water than the crushed onef181.
116 Saleh H .. Alsayed and Mohammed A.Amjad

~ 4

o...-_--+__-+-_ _+--_--+-_ _........_~

0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65

Water/cement ratio

Fig. 2. Relationship between' water absorption and water/cement ratio.

Interestingly, the results of this study as well as of others [17,20] have shown that
no explicit relationship between compressive strength and water absorption occurs.
Unquestionably, however, there exists an interaction between the water absorption
and the compressive strength where the pores at the surface affect the bond between
the aggregate and the paste and thus influence the strength of the concrete.

However, the compressive strength that resulted from the excess in the water
absorption of the NUA over that of the CWA was offset by its round shape and
smooth surface texture.

Porosity
The porosities of CWAC and NUAC are also shown in Table 5. Comparison of
the rationship between the W/C ratio and the porosity is depicted in Fig. 3. The
results show that the porosity of NUAC is always less than that of CWAC at any simi-
lar W/C ratio. They also show that the difference increases as the W/C ratio
 Strength, Water Absorption and Porosity of Concrete ... 117

5
-::f!.
~
~
'00
0 4
CL
0
3

0+----+---0+---.....---0+---+
0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.65

Water cement ratio (W/C)

Fig. 3. Relationship between porosity and water cement ratio.

increases. Though the reason is not clearly known, it is believed that it is so because
of the less number of the empty pores in NUA than of CWA. Earlier studies
[14,18,19] showed that as the porosity decreases the permeability also decreases. It
is to be pointed out here that the permeability plays a major role in durability because
it controls the rate of ingress of the moisture into concrete. The rate of entry of water
plays a major role in the deterioration of concrete structure as the chlorides and sul-
fate in combinaiton with water attack the concrete causing its deterioration. Since
the concrete made with natural aggregates is less porous which reduces the intensity
of attack to a considerable extent thereby producing more durable structure than the
one made using CWAC.

Further, compressive strength versus porosity graph is shown in Fig. 4. The

results of each mix separately show that there is an inverse relationship, i.e., the
higher the strength the lower the porosity. Howeve, there is no overall relationship
that is valid for both mixes. This confirms the findings of other researchers[18,21].
118 Saleh H .. Alsayed and Mohammed A. Amjad

:r
7

5
~
e.-
~
°Cii 4
0
0
Q..

O__--+---+----+--.....--+---+---+---+----t-
20 25.4 28.6 33 33.1 36.3 37.4 39.7 42 50

Compressive strength (MPa)

Fig. 4. Relationship between porosity and compressive strength.

Conclusions

The major findings of this study can be summarized as follows:

1. The compressive strength, modulus of elasticity, modulus of ruptures, of the
crushed aggregate concrete are higher than those of the natural aggregate con-
crete.
2. Compressive strength for no~al structures, ranges from 25 to 30 MPa, can be
achieved easily using Natural Aggregate.
3. Nat'ural aggregate concrete has lesser compressive strength, lesser porosity and
higher water absorption than that of conrete made with crushed aggregate.
4. Empirical formulas available to estimate the mechanical properties of concrete
may lead to a 30% error. Engineers should be aware of their limitations before
use.
 Strength, Water Absorption and Porosity of Concrete ... 119

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