Sieve Analysis Coarse Aggregates

INTRODUCTION This lab was done to help give us a hands-on example, of what is it like to conduct an aggregate distribution test and to then note our findings. To put into practice what we learnt in class. Methodology: We first setup teams in the class and verified the steps listed on our lab. Detail sheet. Once it was our team's turn, Fatima, Lei and I went to get our lab coats on then selected a stainless steel mixing bowl that was in a big wooden box. We then went to the soil/aggregates room where I held the bowl and Lei shovelled in an estimate of 5kg. With that sample we all went over to the scale, set another empty mixing bowl on the scale, and then set the scale to 0 using the "tear" button. Fatima then poured our sample from our mixing bowl into the bowl on the scale. The actual weight was 5391.3g Now that we had an exact weight of our sample, we went to pour it into the Mechanical Sieve shaker that was in a separate room (with two other machines) for safetyand noise purposes. The Mechanical Sieve seems to work on a hydraulic system for tightening the trays in place during the shacking. You have to pump back and forth the shift stick until the trays no longer move in their slots. When the shacking is done (in our case it was 3 min.) the shift stick much be held down to release the pressure holding them locked in place. There also was a makeshift MDF cover that we placed on top and side of the machine for extra precaution. After having poured our aggregates in the machine and having it shack for 3 minutes, we went back into the room with 6 empty mixing bowls. Starting from the top we emptied the contents each sieve into consecutive bowls. We did have to use the brush and the ratchet to get our complete sample out of the trays. Back at the scale, we once again placed an empty mixing bowl and consecutively poured in the contents of each of the 6 bowls; ‘tearing’ the scale at 0 each time and writing down the weight of each. Our results