Comparison on engineering properties of coarse and fine aggregate used in jimma town construction projects with different standards

Abstract

One of the building construction materials widely used in construction project is concrete. Concrete being one of the important constituents of the construction project and construction material produced from three main ingredients namely cement, aggregates and water. In order to get quality standard concrete product, which satisfies the strength, workability and durability requirement, great care has to be given for concrete work starting from the ingredients selection. The ingredient selected has to fulfill the requirement stated on standards. The constituents of concrete, which majority of them occur naturally, are subjected to a wide range of variability. Concrete being one of the important constituents of many of the construction projects, in addition to its subjectivity to variability, requires checking the fulfillment of standards. Therefore, with this respect the research was carried out the comparison on concrete materials used in Jimma town construction projects with different standards. The objective of the research was to comparison the engineering properties of coarse and fine aggregate used in jimma town construction projects with different standards in general, to identify sources,to determine, to compare the results of the engineering properties of coarse and fine aggregates and to give recommendation in line with the outcome of the results of the research. The study area of the research was Jimma town and the population was coarse aggregate and fine aggregate and the research has been conducted through laboratory investigation, interview and field observation which is found in Jimma town of construction projects. To conduct the laboratory investigation the sampling techniques used was porpusive sampling techniques and also both primary and secondary data collection method were used. From the interview and observation made in construction sites, the sources of materials that the projects used are from various sources like Gambela, Worabe, Chewaka for sand and Agaro-suse, Dedo-Ofole, Agaro- Mohamed & miftah for coarse aggregates. To determine the engineering properties of the concrete making materials used in Jimma town construction projects. as obtained from laboratory investigations all sampled sand passes the gradation standard also except Dedo-Ofole all sampled aggregate passes gradation and except Gambela sand all fulfill the requirement for fineness modulus, also for unit weight and the rest results tabulated in chapter four. Therefore, as the result obtained from laboratory investigations conducted on engineering properties of concrete making material, the researcher conclude that the concrete making material used in Jimma town construction projects are not uniformly fulfill the requirement for ES, ASTM and BS standard. Based on the above conclusion; all responsible body recommended to maintain material quality standard.