Rodolfo O. Uñac

Physical Characterization of Granular Components Used in Road Construction

In this work we characterize the granular matter that constitutes the standard material employed in road construction. We measure parameters such as: size distribution, flatness and elongation ratios, hardness, stability angles and compactness. All these parameters are measured as a function of grain sizes. Once this information is obtained, we correlated it to describe each granular size family and draw some conclusions on the expected behavior for future application to rheological tests.

Flow of wet natural pozzolana

We present experimental results on the flow and stability conditions for natural pozzolana, a natural volcanic sand widely used in concrete production. We measured different angles involved in equilibrium conditions for sand piles and relate them to the flux parameters necessary to produce a silo evacuation. We vary some of the geometrical parameters in the silo to inspect the different flux responses of the system. Results are showed as a function of humidity present in the system. In this way, we related critical angles with flux conditions through a silo under different geometric setups and different humidity degrees, thus setting up a basic phase diagram for flux.