SpecificGravity(RelativeDensity)Calculations ThefollowingvaluesarerecordedaspartofASTMC127: A=massofovendrytestsampleinair,g B=ofsaturatedsurfacedrytestsampleinair,g C=apparentmassofsaturatedtestsampleinwater,g According to the principle of buoyancy, the apparent mass of the aggregate particles

suspended in water(C)isequaltotheirovendrymassinair(A)lessthemassofwatertheydisplacewhensubmerged. Thelatteristheproductofthemassdensityofwater(w)andthenetvolumeoftheaggregateparticles (i.e.,thevolumeoftheaggregateparticlesexcludingtheirpermeablepores),so C=AwVnet AC=wVnet

The apparent specific gravity is defined as the ratio of the mass of the particles to the mass of a volume ofwaterequaltothenetvolumeoftheparticles,sotheapparentspecificgravitycanbecalculatedas:
Gapp A A w Vnet A C

whichistheformulagivenintheASTMspecification. The SSD mass of the particles (B) is equal to their ovendry mass (A) plus the mass of water needed to completely fill their pores. The latter is the product of the mass density of water and the volume of the permeablepores,so B=A+wVpore BA=wVpore

The bulk specific gravity (SSD) is defined as the ratio of the SSD mass of the particles to the mass of a volume of water equal to the gross volume of the particles (i.e., the volume including the permeable pores),so
SSD Gbulk

B B B B w Vgross w Vnet w Vpores A C B A B C

whichistheformulagivenintheASTMspecification. Finally, the bulk specific gravity (OD) is the ratio of the ovendry mass of the particles to the mass of a volumeofwaterequaltothegrossvolumeoftheparticles:
OD Gbulk

A A A A w Vgross w Vnet w Vpores A C B A B C

which,again,istheformulagivenintheASTMspecification.