An Image-Based Approach to Capture Influence of Production Mechanism on Aggregate Dimension Distribution and Breakage Potential

Abstract

Abstract This study evaluates the breakage potential of basaltic coarse aggregates of three different sizes, i.e., P19-R12.5 (passing 19 mm and retaining on 12.5 mm), P12.5-R9.5, and P9.5-R4.75 produced from three different production mechanisms using the image-based dimension analysis approach. At first, the effects of three different crushing mechanisms, specifically, jaw-horizontal shaft impactor (JH), jaw-cone (JC), and JC-vertical shaft impactor (VSI) (named JCV) were evaluated on particle dimensional distribution. The dimensions were determined using the digital image–based aggregate image measurement system (AIMS) and analyzed in the form of flakiness, elongation, flakiness and elongation (F&E), and Zingg’s distribution. Further, the aggregate samples were subjected to breakage and three different breakage potentials, namely the breakage index, Lee and Farmhood breakage index, and Hardin relative breakage index, were determined. The results from dimension analysis indicated that the crushing mechanism has significant effects on the amount of flaky particles, whereas the elongation shows little dependence. The aggregate produced from JC presented the highest percentage of F&E aggregates with 3:1 and 5:1 ratios, followed by JH and JCV, respectively. Also, it was found that the Zingg’s distribution is helpful for capturing the shape of aggregates having similar F&E characteristics. Further, the breakage potential indicated that the JC- and JH-produced aggregates had significantly higher probabilities of breakage compared to JCV. In addition, this study has presented an approach to capture AIMS competency in differentiating the aggregate dimensions and concluded that the approach can be used to assess the quality of aggregate size bifurcation.