Evaluation of the Effects of Coarse Aggregate Sizes on Concrete Quality

This work was necessitated by the observations made at construction sites where artisans and craftsmen were left alone in concrete production. It was discovered that they used inadequate quantity and size of coarse aggregates due to difficulty associated in the mixing as if the coarse aggregates were not needed in concrete production. The research has established that the coarse aggregates and their sizes play critical roles in the development of adequate strength in concrete. It was observed that with proper mixing, the slump test results did not witness shear or collapse type of slump rather there were true slump in all cases of the test. The workability decreased with slight differences when the coarse aggregate size was increased. The increase in the coarse aggregates yielded appreciable increase in the compressive strength. It can therefore be inferred that the quality of concrete in terms of strength can be enhanced through an increase in the coarse aggregate size when proper mix ratio, batching, mixing, transporting, placing and finishings are employed in concrete productions.