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Aggregate
Construction aggregate, or simply aggregate, is a broad category of coarse- to medium-grained particulate material used in construction. Traditionally, it includes natural materials such as sand, gravel, crushed stone. As with other types of aggregates, it is a component of composite materials, particularly concrete and asphalt. Aggregates are the most mined materials in the world,[1][2] being a significant part of 6 billion tons of concrete produced per year.[3] Aggregate serves as reinforcement to add strength to the resulting material. Due to the relatively high hydraulic conductivity as compared to most soil types, aggregates are widely used in drainage applications such as foundation and French drains, septic drain fields, retaining wall drains, and roadside edge drains. Aggregates are also used as base material under building foundations, roads, and railroads (aggregate base). It has predictable, uniform properties, preventing differential settling under the road or building. Aggregates are also used as a low-cost extender that binds with more expensive cement or asphalt to form concrete. Although most kinds of aggregate require a form of binding agent, there are types of self-binding aggregate which require no form of binding agent.[4] More recently, recycled concrete and geosynthetic materials have also been used as aggregates.
South Wales (Welsh: De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. It has a population of around 2.2 million, almost three-quarters of the whole of Wales, including 400,000 in Cardiff, 250,000 in Swansea and 150,000 in Newport. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards to include Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire. In the western extent, from Swansea westwards, local people would probably recognise that they lived in both south Wales and west Wales.[1] The Brecon Beacons National Park covers about a third of south Wales, containing Pen y Fan, the highest British mountain south of Cadair Idris in Snowdonia.
