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Black (2004). A Typical Combination And Most Popular In The Construction ...

Black (2004). A typical combination and most popular in the construction industry for the aggregate is the gravel and sand mix at different sizes and compressibility that are used in high demand construction structural applications as argued by Glenn A. Black.
Hence aggregate in concrete is defined as the component of concrete that attributes to the strength, durability, compressibility and insulation attributes to support the desired construction application.
Lightweight Aggregate
Glenn A. Black (2004) says The term "Lightweight Aggregate" describes a range of special use aggregates that have an apparent specific gravity considerably below normal sand and gravel which were at one time used in almost all concrete.
From the above it is clear that the lightweight aggregate is one of the critical elements that makes concrete flexible and versatile to make the overall structural design and specifications as to meet the construction requirements as argued by Leif Berntsson Satish Chandra (2002). It is also interesting to note that the lightweight aggregate in the concrete that is made using light weight materials also provide an appreciable level of compressibility as well as possess strength that can be defined based on the composition thus making it a versatile and cost effective process in the production process itself.
The range of lightweight aggregate is extensive in nature from extremely light materials used for insulation and non-structural concrete all the way to expanded clays and shales used for structural concrete. This makes it clear that the lightweight aggregate in the concrete is mainly aimed to achieve high level of physical stability and compressibility through effectively utilising the physical qualities of the aggregate materials. This is further justified in the arguments of Leif Berntsson Satish Chandra (2002) who argues that the lightweight aggregate in the concrete is a major step towards innovation in the field of engineering itself.


The strength and the air trapped in each individual particle of the components of the aggregate materials are inversely proportional to each other thus making it clear that in order to gain lightweight aggregate the amount of air trapped in the individual particles must be high thus making it clear that the strength of the concrete thus obtained is low. The above relationship stated provides the guidance to ensure the balance between the air trapped and the strength required in the concrete mix thus making the overall lightweight aggregate concrete customisable to meet the structural requirements of the application on hand.
Lightweight Aggregate Concrete Spectrum
The concrete spectrum resulting from the use of the lightweight aggregate is extremely diverse in nature ranging from very lightweight aggregate concrete up to high strength aggregates dedicated for specific bespoke applications as argued by Glenn A. Black (2004).