Sieve analysis
A sieve analysis (or gradation test) is a practice or procedure used in geology, 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. The size distribution is often of critical importance to the way the material performs in use.