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By F. Selig, E. J. Couch

The following points serve to supplement the interesting theoretical study on forward combustion by Thomas, and may be of some general interest. The mathematical model presented by the author can be viewed as a first approximation to the problem of calculating the vertical burned height profile resulting from ignition of the interval | z |<h/2 in a very thick formation. However, the assumption of a given minimum combustion temperature T, would give a better approximation to the vertical burned profile if the burning height were not constrained to stay within the ignited layer. This follows from the fact that both fuel and oxygen are present in the adjacent region, |z|>h/2, and for certain combinations of process variables the temperature is sufficiently high for complete combustion to occur. In this case, the vertical coverage will first become greater than the ignited interval before cutting back to zero as the extinction limit is approached as shown in Fig. 1. Such growth of vertical coverage is possible if the minimum combustion temperature is less than the initial source temperature (r = rj) at the edge (z = h/2) of the ignited interval. But this latter temperature is equal to one-half the source temperature for the case of infinite burned height.&apos;,&apos; Thus growth will occur initially if The fact that the vertical burned height can be greater than the ignited interval complicates the picture considerably, as can be seen by referring to Fig. 1. Here burning occurs in Region A, whereas none was possible in the original mathematical model. At the same time, there is no combustion in Region B, contrary to the assumption of burning in the entire layer |z|<h/2. This apparent inconsistency suggests that the vertical coverage derived from this simple model does not adequately represent the vertical height of the burned zone. A more compatible model will result from the actual stepwise calculation of the burning length (as a function of time) that would give rise to the specified combustion temperature. This problem can be more conveniently attacked by using the temperature distribution, given by the author&apos;s Eq. 12, expressed in the integrated form:

By Charles Will Wright

THE HIGHLY SPECIALIZED heavy air transport services to mining regions, such as exist in the New Guinea gold fields and in northern Canada, have been even more essential in the development of mines in Peru. Few nations have been con- fronted with greater natural obstacles to transport than has Peru, and without the plane it would have been impossible to get the machinery and supplies for the construction of power plants and mills to many of these interior mines, situated as they are over high mountain ranges, with muleback the principal means of transportation. As the mines within a district become important producers and warrant the expenditure, the mule trail is being replaced by automobile roads to connect with the railway stations and with the airports.

Jan 1, 1940

By Edna A. Dancy, Ronald L. Pastorek, Gerhard J. Derge

In an earlier study1 in this laboratory, it was found that there is a minimum in the specific conductance of Ni-S melts in the region of the stoichiometric composition, Ni3S2. This and similar observations on other sulfide1 and telluride2 systems suggest that short-range order exists in the molten phase for several hundred degrees above the melting point, and a qualitative energy-band model has been proposed, with intrinsic semiconduction at the stoichiometric composition and degenerate electron and hole conduction at metal- and tellurium-rich compositions. This suggestion has been substantiated for the telluride systems by Seebeck coefficient measurements which showed a change in sign from negative on the metal-rich side to positive on the tellurium-rich side. In the present investigation, in order to substantiate still further the proposed model, Seebeck coefficient determinations have been extended to the Ni-S system over a composition range in the vicinity of Ni3S2. The experimental method was essentially the same as that used for the telluride systems, with minor modifications on cells for high sulfur melts to permit the use of tungsten wires and W— W-Re th~rmocouples instead of the chrome1 or alumel wires and chromel-alumel thermocouples originally used. Chrome1 and alumel both deteriorate very rapidly in atmospheres containing sulfur. The Ni-S alloys were prepared as described in the conductivity paper. Initially, a portion of the solidified melt was analyzed at the end of a run, but after this was found to be inaccurate because of segregation during cooling, the whole sample was analyzed. The nickel content, only, was determined, the sulfur content being obtained by difference. The results are summarized graphically in Fig. 1, and clearly show a change in the sign of the Seebeck coefficient in the region of the stoichiometric composition. This change of sign near Ni3S2, coupled with the minimum in the conductivity, is suggestive of an intrinsic semiconductor at the stoichiometric composition, with degenerate electron and hole conduction on either side of this composition, in keeping with the proposed model. The negative temperature coefficient of conductivity, normally indicative of metallic conduction, is not inconsistent with this model. In the completely degenerate region it would be expected, while in the vicinity of Ni3S2 the suggestion originally made by Argyriades, Derge, and pound3 for the Fe-S system can probably be applied. They proposed that the forbidden gap between the valence band and the conduction band is small, and that the increase in the number of the conducting species with increase in temperature is not large enough to compensate for the loss of mobility through thermal scattering. The research was sponsored by the Office of Naval Research under Contract NONR-760(22) Project NR 039-081. &apos;E. A. Dancy and G. J. Derge: Trans. Met. Soc. Aime, 1963, vol. 227, pp. 1034-38. &apos;E. A. Dancy: Trans. Vet. soc. AIME. 1964, vol. 233, pp. 270-77. &apos;D. Argyriades, G. Derge, and G. M. Pound: Trans. Met. Soc. . 1959, vol. 215, pp. 909-12.

Jan 1, 1965

By Richard Moldenke

So far as the quality of the product is concerned, the history of the production of pig iron for foundry purposes is one of constant retrogression. The steps in this deterioration began with cold-blast charcoal pig iron, then anthracite iron, coke iron; then gradually warm to hot-blast coke iron, with the charcoal furnaces also heating their blast to get greater tonnages, and finally the present-day hot-blast coke irons with scrap additions to the ordinary burden that, according to one European report, have gone as high as 65 per cent. Parallel with this quality retrogression is the enormous increase in furnace tonnages from about 15 to over 1000 tons per day in excep tional instances of modern practice. The key to this situation is economic pressure. The effect is a growing differentiation between furnace production for gray iron and malleable foundries and for the production of commercial steel. As the foundry is often compelled to draw upon the pig irons made for steel purposes, for economic reasons, whereas the steel industry does not draw upon foundry pig irons proper, the situation is resolving itself into one of grave consequence for the life of the gray-iron castings industry, and hence the intensive present-day feeling in foundry circles for rigid specifications to govern the quality of pig irons sold for foundry use. In the discussion of a paper on the use of scrap in the blast furnace held recently in the Institute, a very pertinent remark was made by one of the participating furnacemen, who confessed that "the things found wrong by the foundryman with his iron were beyond his depth." It may be added that those things are also beyond the depth of most foundrymen who, however, know from their results that they are getting poorer castings today with many pig irons than they did with those same brands in former years. Under the former fracture buying, the foundryman at least could select the strongest metal, as judged by the sledge, from various brands of similar fracture and pig section, and his results proved

Jan 1, 1927

By J. C. F. Randolph

This mill being now in successful work, it seems proper to record some professional memoranda concerning it. It is intended to handle an unusual ore, in a locality difficult of access, and its arrangement and method of procedure present some novel features of interest. It was prepared for the San Miguel property at Batopilas, State of Chihuahua, Mexico, owned by the Consolidated Batopilas Silver Mining Company of New York, at present under the management of ex-Governor Alexander R. Shepherd. This property contains a large series of more or less parallel veins, worked through a deep cross-cut tunnel 1300 feet in length. The vein rock of these veins is calcapar in diorite. While, near the stirface, ruby silver, black

Jan 1, 1882

By John C. F. Randolph

THIS mill being now in successful work, it seems proper to record some professional memoranda concerning it. It is intended to handle an unusual ore, in a locality difficult of access, and its arrangement and method of procedure present some novel features of interest. It was prepared for the San Miguel property at Batopilas, State of Chihuahua, Mexico, owned by the Consolidated Batopilas Silver Mining Company of New York, at present under the management of ex-Governor Alexander R. Shepherd. This property contains a large series of more or less parallel veins, worked through a deep cross-cut tunnel 1300 feet in length. The vein rock of these veins is calespar in diorite. While, near the surface, ruby silver, black

Jan 1, 1882

By John B. Hastings

The occurrellce of such a large amount of gold in the Hart-eel granite, even though the surmised existence of similar areas is not new, brings freshly to mind the pegmatite type of mag-matic differentiation lately brought again to attention by occurrences at Silver Peak, Nev., described by Spurr; and in Alaska, described by both Spurr and Brooks. In both localities granitic rocks or dikes are thought to pass into metalliferous quartz-veins. An interesting association in this connection is the occurrence of diamonds in residual pegmatitic clay of Sail Juao de Chapado, Brazil, described by Derby :&apos; (P. 142) "Bodies of pegmatite are quite common in the older rocks of Brazil, both in the diamond regions and elsewhere, occurring not only in the gneiss and granite, but in the schistose series as well. Those that have been examined are dike-like in their mode of occurrence and granitic in composition.&apos;&apos; (P. 143) &apos;" The question of the eruptive or secretionary origin of pegmatites has long been a subject of discussion among geologists.... The recent studies .. seen] to have clearly established that most if not all of them are essentially eruptive masses, though possibly modified in some way by aqueous agencies. Even before becoming acquainted with the literature of the subject this view had seemed to me to be the only acceptable one as regards the typical pegmatites of Brazil." What is pegmatite ? J. F. Kemp says :2 "... veins or dikes—it is an open question which is the more correct term— are met formed of very coarsely crystalline aggregates of the same minerals that constitute granite. These are called pegmatite and in them is the home of graphic granite, the curious intergrowth of quartz and feldspar, such that a cross fracture of the blades of quartz suggests cuneiform characters.... In regard to the larger veins or dikes it seems improbable that true igneous fusion could have afforded such coarsely crystalline aggregates, and so we are forced to assume such abundance of steam and other vapors, i.e, mineralizers, as to almost, if not quite, imply solution."

Jan 1, 1909

By William S. Springer

A NEW preparation plant has been put in operation to treat coal from the recently opened Concord mine, located about 15 miles west of Birmingham, Ala., by the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Co., a U. S. Steel subsidiary. The mine produces metallurgical grade coking coal from the American seam for use as coke in the company&apos;s blast furnaces at the Fairfield and Enseley works. The capacity of the operation is 1000 tons of run-of-mine per hr, approximately half of which is delivered to the by-product coke plant at Fairfield after beneficiation to metallurgical grade. The remaining portion of the mine run is rock and refuse removed during preparation. No boiler coal or other fuels are produced by this mine.

Jan 12, 1950

By M. J. Scoble, N. Rowlands, L. Piciacchia

Pronounced non-linear behaviour of mine backfill arises from the influence of confining pressure, cementing agent content, curing time, void ratio and water content. Past research into backfill behaviour under stress is reviewed and related to the needs for constitutive laws which can be integrated into numerical modelling for mine design where structures employ backfill support. A method for representing non-linear backfill behaviour is proposed, which is based upon numerical regression treatment of triaxial laboratory data. The non-linear behaviour observed from a program of laboratory triaxial testing of cemented hydraulic backfill is presented. The particular influence of confining stress and curing duration is high- lighted. The paper concludes by considering the alternative means of accounting for such behaviour in mine design.

Jan 1, 1984

By Albert D. Brokaw

The accompanying charts are presented to extend and improve a chart published under the title "A Chart to Provide Approximate Correction for Temperature and Deviation from Boyle&apos;s Law."&apos; The applicability of this earlier chart was limited by the fact that it was based on the work of Burke and Keyes² and Kvalnes and Gaddy3 whose experiments were conducted with pure methane, the adjustments suggested for natural gases of higher specific gravity were unsatisfactory except within limited ranges of temperatures and pressures, and precise interpolation was difficult. The extensive work of G. G. Brown, D. L. Katz and their associates on the heavier natural gases has provided better bases for the needed corrections, and the present charts. which are based largely on their work, are intended to simplify the computations involved. The design of the charts has been changed by plotting temperatures as a function of pressure and correction factor, on a semilogarithmic or "ratio" grid, which gives fairly even spacing of the graphs and simplifies interpolation. Charts have been prepared for natural gas with specific gravities of .60, .65, .70, .75 and .80. The standard computation for use in estimating the quantity of gas in a reservoir may be expressed as follows: _ PA X 520 X VR ZT where: Q is the volume of gas at 60°F and one atmosphere pressure PA is the absolute formation pressure in atmospheres

Jan 1, 1949

By Albert D. Brokaw

The accompanying charts are presented to extend and improve a chart published under the title "A Chart to Provide Approximate Correction for Temperature and Deviation from Boyle&apos;s Law."&apos; The applicability of this earlier chart was limited by the fact that it was based on the work of Burke and Keyes² and Kvalnes and Gaddy3 whose experiments were conducted with pure methane, the adjustments suggested for natural gases of higher specific gravity were unsatisfactory except within limited ranges of temperatures and pressures, and precise interpolation was difficult. The extensive work of G. G. Brown, D. L. Katz and their associates on the heavier natural gases has provided better bases for the needed corrections, and the present charts. which are based largely on their work, are intended to simplify the computations involved. The design of the charts has been changed by plotting temperatures as a function of pressure and correction factor, on a semilogarithmic or "ratio" grid, which gives fairly even spacing of the graphs and simplifies interpolation. Charts have been prepared for natural gas with specific gravities of .60, .65, .70, .75 and .80. The standard computation for use in estimating the quantity of gas in a reservoir may be expressed as follows: _ PA X 520 X VR ZT where: Q is the volume of gas at 60°F and one atmosphere pressure PA is the absolute formation pressure in atmospheres

Jan 1, 1949

By Leigh J. Wardle

SUMMARY This paper describes a numerical method for calculating the three- dimensional stresses and displacements induced by tabular excavations in a rock mass consisting of parallel layers of distinct material properties. The method is based on the superposition of numerical solutions for elementary displacement discontinuities in a parallel layered rock mass. The method can be used to analyse complicated excavation layouts such as those encountered in room-and-pillar or longwall mining. The method can automatically take into account the effect of the earth&apos;s surface. The method offers an economic and efficient solution to stress analysis problems which cannot be adequately modelled using two- dimensional methods and for which the expense of three-dimensional finite element or general boundary element analysis cannot be justified. INTRODUCTION Underground mining often takes place in tabular or lenticular orebodies. In many cases, for example room-and-pillar and longwall mining, the excavation geometry cannot be adequately modelled by two- dimensional methods of analysis. In these cases resort must be made to three-dimensional methods of analysis. Although in principle three-dimensional finite element models can be used for these geometries, cost limitations have restricted their application to a small number of cases. For example, room-and-pillar systems of regular pattern have been analysed by numerically modelling

Jan 1, 1984

By R. Maddi, I. R. Kramer

The delay time for the initiation of slip was studied in single crystals of a brass, aluminum, and ß brass. A delay time for slip was found in ß brass when the specimens were tested below room temperature; however, one was not found for a brass or aluminum. A general theory for the existence of the brittle transition temperature is proposed. A LTHOUGH a considerable amount of effort has A been devoted to the study of the deformation and fracture of single crystals, the vast majority of the work was concerned with static tests or with tests carried out at relatively slow strain rates. The necessity for the study of a possible incubation time for slip becomes apparent when the various theories which have been postulated for the elucidation of the mechanism of slip are considered. The existence of an incubation period would strongly indicate that slip occurs by a process of nucleation and growth; whereas the absence of an incubation would present rather convincing evidence that slip occurs by a cataclysmic process. In addition to shedding light on the process of plastic deformation, an understanding of the early stages of plastic deformation may be helpful in finding an explanation for the brittle behavior of the body-centered metals under certain conditions. It is well known that these metals, such as iron, molybdenum, tungsten, ß brass, etc., will become brittle as the test temperature is lowered or the strain rate is increased. In spite of the fact that this subject has received considerable attention since the turn of the century, no adequate theory exists today which explains the phenomenon. In the ductile temperature range the metal breaks with a "fibrous" fracture after considerable slip has taken place. In the brittle temperature range the metal fails essentially by cleavage on the {loo) planes: however, some plastic flow is always present even in the most brittle fractures. It is possible, as will be explained later, to ascribe this brittle behavior to the length of the incubation time for slip. Clark and Wood,&apos; using polycrystalline metals, showed that a delay time existed for the yield point in mild steels and that the delay time depended upon the applied stress. These authors stated that the delay time was observed only with those materials for which the stress-strain curve showed a definite yield point. In their work only the mild steel specimens exhibited a delay time at the yield point, while the other materials studied-type 302 stainless steel, SAE 4130 normalized steel, SAE 4130 quenched and tempered steel, 24s-T aluminum—did not show a delay time. These authors&apos; in an extension of their work, found that as the temperature was lowered the delay time was increased. It is, then, the purpose of this investigation to measure or to set an upper limit on the delay time for plastic flow in single crystals of a brass, aluminum, and ß brass. The delay time will also be studied as a function of temperature. The incubation time may be measured by determining the length of time the specimen will support a stress without slip occurring when the stress is greater than the static critical resolved shear stress. In order to accomplish these measurements use was made of a pendulum which was so designed that a single crystal specimen could be placed at various positions along its length. When a pendulum is struck by another pendulum of the same length, an elastic wave is transmitted down the bar with the velocity of sound in the material and is reflected from the far end of the bar. The reflected wave then travels back and unloads the stress until it reaches the impacted end of the bar and the two pendulums separate. The length of time that the specimen is subjected to the stress is equal to the time it takes for the stress wave to travel twice the distance from the specimen to the end of the bar. The stress applied to the specimen is governed by the velocity of impact of the two pendulums. The stress at which the specimen first suffers plastic: deformation was determined in these experiments by examining the specimen under the microscope for the first appearance of slip lines and by measuring the residual strain after each impact. In these experiments the critical resolved shear stress was approached from the low stress side and no attempt was made to determine it exactly. To determine it exactly, it would have been necessary to find that stress at which slip would have just started. However, since the stresses were increased in rather small increments the critical stress is believed to be approached rather closely, as will be seen from the experimental results. The critical stress will be taken as the highest stress obtained before the onset of plastic deformation. The stresses

Jan 1, 1953

By Thomas Egleston

The adoption of the regenerative principle for burning fire-bricks, pottery, etc., has been delayed beyond what would naturally have been expected, because there bas been until recently little necessity for high heat in burning such material. But the introduction of pro-

Jan 1, 1887

By Fred Witt, Milton Schwartz

ESTABLISHED methods for obtaining quantitative pole figures for flat sheets1"5 can be extended to apply to thin films on a substrate. The mode of scanning the sample is exactly the same as described in the references? but consideration is given to the fact that the scattered X-ray intensities are due to both the thin film and its substrate with appropriate attenuation factors. The purpose of this paper is to describe a method to obtain the scattered intensities from the film alone for subsequent pole-figure determinations. Fig. 1 shows the four possible general positions of the film (f) and its substrate (s) with respect to the incident X-ray beam (I,). In this paper it will be assumed that the plane of the sample is normal to the plane of the diffractometer. In the diagrams the line jV is the normal to the flat sample and the line P is the trace of the diffracting crystallographic planes in the plane of the diffractometer. The angle of tilt, a, is the positive acute angle measured from the line N to the line P; if this angle is measured clockwise then a is said to be in the positive a region; if this angle is measured counterclockwise then a is said to be in the negative a region. For the reflection cases, the total scattered intensity, at the proper Bragg angle for a particular set of planes, is due to that scattered by the film Vf) and that scattered by the substrate. The beam incident on

Jan 1, 1967

By R. E. Collins, Paul B. Crawford

Mathematical equations have been derived to show the effect of the slippage phenomomenon (Klinkenberg effect) on unsteady-state gas flow through porous media. The assumption is made that the slippage may be represented by an equation of the type It is pointed out that most of the existing data on unsteady gas flow may be corrected for slippage by a simple change in definition of the dimen-sionless groups. INTRODUCTION Several solutions to the various problems associated with the unsteady-state flow of gas through porous media have been recently presented in the literature.&apos;,&apos;" The cited publications have resented solutions for flow under ideal conditjons. The principal assumptions involved include: (a) the density of the gas obeys the perfect gas law; (b) the viscosity of the gas is constant; and (c) the gas permeability is constant. Few, if any, actual gases under reservoir conditions are believed to conform with the above, but the ideal solutions do provide the basis for making improved estimates on the performance of gas reservoirs. The purpose of this paper is to show the performance characteristics when assumption (c) is corrected for the slippage phenomenon or the Klinkenberg effect. This is believed to be a step nearer to reality. MATHEMATICAL DEVELOPMENT Case 1. Gas Flow — Ideal Conditions The equations describing the flow of gas under ideal conditions have been clearly presented in the cited literature; however, for completeness of this work they are repeated here. The basic differential equation describing the flow of gas is Equation (6). It may be derived as follows: The continuity equation, the perfect gas law and Darcy&apos;s law are combined to give: Manuscript received in the Petroleum Branch office Aug. 3, 1963 or If — is constant, Equation (5) is rewritten to form the basic Equation (6). or for the linear case A dimensionless equation is obtained by dividing through by (pl)z and making the substitutions shown below: The resulting equation is A similar procedure for the radial case leads to the following equations: where and Equations (11), (12), and (13) are those used by Bruce, et al., and Jenkins and Aronofsky for their computational work.

Jan 1, 1953

By T. W. Peterson, J. W. White, E. E. Krist

In developing a minicomputer application for an industrial grinding circuit, the control program is usually coded and the compilation is debugged on a remote access computing system. Final debugging must wait for installation of the minicomputer. This work reports on an alternative. Here both compilation and execution bugs are eliminated before the hardware is installed by testing the control program against a dynamic simulation. Attention is directed toward development of a particular real-time control program for an industrial wet grinding circuit in a copper concentrator. Specific data were supplied by the Anamax Mining Co. for a grinding division consisting of a rod mill followed by two ball mills in parallel. This information was used to set up a plausible model structure.

Jan 1, 1977

By Robert M. Lewis

Silica sand deposits are usually contaminated with various heavy minerals which must be removed to make the silica useful for flat-glass production. Research was undertaken to develop a better procedure for producing flat-glass-grade silica. Batch tests revealed that anionic detergent-type reagents had considerable promise. Pilot plant tests were run to compare the effectiveness of anionic detergent-type reagents with petroleum sulfonate in the removal of heavy minerals from a potential glass sand. Another slightly modified commercial procedure also was evaluated for comparison. In the pilot plant trials, utilization of the anionic detergent potation reagents did not produce quite as good results as petroleum sulfonate. It is likely that flat glass-grade sand could be produced with the anionic detergent reagents if more extensive pilot plant tests were conducted.

Jan 1, 1977

By Elliot P. Rexford

IN the early days of concrete construction, the question of quality of sand or gravel to be used as aggregate in concrete was given little or no consideration. If the construction engineer had sufficient quantity for his structure within a reasonable distance, he was contented and gave no thought to the possibility that the material might have adverse physical, chemical, or thermal properties which could cause future deterioration of his concrete and possible failure of his structure. Today a very different situation exists. With the building of larger and larger concrete structures, with a longer and longer life expectancy, the quality of the aggregate material has become of major importance. Even in small concrete structures aggregate quality cannot be passed off lightly and the quality of the aggregate must be such as to give the anticipated life without costly maintenance. The first question to arise in the selection of an aggregate is what makes a sand or gravel suitable or unsuitable for use in concrete, and how can its quality be judged. No one rock type can be depended upon to furnish sound durable material in all instances. Granitic rocks, for example, make very satisfactory aggregates in some cases, but they are among the most unsuitable of materials when they are fractured, weathered, or highly micaceous. Limestones make excellent concrete aggregates on the one hand, and on the other they may be unsound and lack durability if they contain appreciable clay, they may have a harmful chemical reaction with the cement if they contain amorphous silica, or they may have thermal characteristics which make them highly unsuitable for use in concrete. Each rock, gravel, or sand must be proved on its own merits for the particular job under consideration. The selection of suitable aggregate materials may be divided into two major phases, the geological phase which is carried on largely in the field, and the testing phase which of course is a laboratory problem; both are important. Very often the geological phase alone is sufficient for the selection of satisfactory aggregates for minor structures but for major structures both phases must be thoroughly investigated. Geological Phase In the southwest part of the country nearly every major rock type, igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary, may be found with all imaginable intermediate phases and in all imaginable stages of alteration. Frequently very different rock types, different as to geological age, composition, and condition occur very close together. Alluvium and stream-bed sands and gravels will consist of many different rock types and even ledge rocks may vary radically as to texture and composition within the area of a quarry site. Some of the rocks make suitable aggregate materials whereas others are highly deleterious in concrete. Too often the good and the bad occur together and more than ordinary caution is required in aggregate selection. Aggregate Sources: Concrete aggregates are usually obtained from stream-bed sands and gravels or from ledge rocks. Each has certain favorable and unfavorable characteristics and it is sometimes necessary to investigate both types to determine the most suitable source for a specific structure. Stream Beds: The predominant sources of aggregate materials in southern California and Arizona are stream beds. Vast quantities of sands and gravels are brought from the mountain ranges by the rivers during times of flood but most of these streams are dry a large part of the time and hence these deposits make easily accessible sources of aggregate materials. From many standpoints stream-bed materials make very acceptable aggregates. The gravel pebbles and the sand grains are

Jan 1, 1951

By Elliot P. Rexford

IN the early days of concrete construction, the question of quality of sand or gravel to be used as aggregate in concrete was given little or no consideration. If the construction engineer had sufficient quantity for his structure within a reasonable distance, he was contented and gave no thought to the possibility that the material might have adverse physical, chemical, or thermal properties which could cause future deterioration of his concrete and possible failure of his structure. Today a very different situation exists. With the building of larger and larger concrete structures, with a longer and longer life expectancy, the quality of the aggregate material has become of major importance. Even in small concrete structures aggregate quality cannot be passed off lightly and the quality of the aggregate must be such as to give the anticipated life without costly maintenance. The first question to arise in the selection of an aggregate is what makes a sand or gravel suitable or unsuitable for use in concrete, and how can its quality be judged. No one rock type can be depended upon to furnish sound durable material in all instances. Granitic rocks, for example, make very satisfactory aggregates in some cases, but they are among the most unsuitable of materials when they are fractured, weathered, or highly micaceous. Limestones make excellent concrete aggregates on the one hand, and on the other they may be unsound and lack durability if they contain appreciable clay, they may have a harmful chemical reaction with the cement if they contain amorphous silica, or they may have thermal characteristics which make them highly unsuitable for use in concrete. Each rock, gravel, or sand must be proved on its own merits for the particular job under consideration. The selection of suitable aggregate materials may be divided into two major phases, the geological phase which is carried on largely in the field, and the testing phase which of course is a laboratory problem; both are important. Very often the geological phase alone is sufficient for the selection of satisfactory aggregates for minor structures but for major structures both phases must be thoroughly investigated. Geological Phase In the southwest part of the country nearly every major rock type, igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary, may be found with all imaginable intermediate phases and in all imaginable stages of alteration. Frequently very different rock types, different as to geological age, composition, and condition occur very close together. Alluvium and stream-bed sands and gravels will consist of many different rock types and even ledge rocks may vary radically as to texture and composition within the area of a quarry site. Some of the rocks make suitable aggregate materials whereas others are highly deleterious in concrete. Too often the good and the bad occur together and more than ordinary caution is required in aggregate selection. Aggregate Sources: Concrete aggregates are usually obtained from stream-bed sands and gravels or from ledge rocks. Each has certain favorable and unfavorable characteristics and it is sometimes necessary to investigate both types to determine the most suitable source for a specific structure. Stream Beds: The predominant sources of aggregate materials in southern California and Arizona are stream beds. Vast quantities of sands and gravels are brought from the mountain ranges by the rivers during times of flood but most of these streams are dry a large part of the time and hence these deposits make easily accessible sources of aggregate materials. From many standpoints stream-bed materials make very acceptable aggregates. The gravel pebbles and the sand grains are

Jan 1, 1951