Sieve analysis
A sieve analysis (or gradation test) is a practice or procedure used in civil engineering and chemical engineering to assess the particle size distribution (also called gradation) of a granular material by allowing the material to pass through a series of sieves of progressively smaller mesh size and weighing the amount of material that is stopped by each sieve as a fraction of the whole mass.
| Granulometry | |
|---|---|
| Basic concepts | |
| Particle size, Grain size, Size distribution, Morphology | |
| Methods and techniques | |
| Mesh scale, Optical granulometry, Sieve analysis, Soil gradation | |
Related concepts | |
| Granulation, Granular material, Mineral dust, Pattern recognition, Dynamic light scattering | |
The size distribution is often of critical importance to the way the material performs in use. A sieve analysis can be performed on any type of non-organic or organic granular materials including sand, crushed rock, clay, granite, feldspar, coal, soil, a wide range of manufactured powder, grain and seeds, down to a minimum size depending on the exact method. Being such a simple technique of particle sizing, it is probably the most common.