Bank vs loose density of gravel, sand and soil

Interactive chart of how much a cubic yard of gravel, sand or soil weighs in the ground (bank, undisturbed) and once dug and loaded (loose). Published by TakeoffMetric.

What the chart shows

The 9 materials of the dataset for which Caterpillar's reference table gives both a loose and a bank density
One row per material: the loose density (open dot) and the bank density (filled dot), in lb per cubic yard or kg per cubic metre (toggle)
The bank-to-loose ratio at the right of each row; lowest 1.12: Gravel, dry (unsized); highest 1.44: Top soil

The same mass takes more room once it is dug. Example with dry sand: 10 cu yd measured in the bank weigh 27,000 lb (10 x 2,700); loose at 2,400 lb/cu yd, that mass fills 11.25 cu yd in the truck. Which density a supplier or a haul ticket uses changes the quantity to order.

Data

data.csv is generated from constants.csv of the dataset US Construction Estimating Constants (commit 4862d1a, rows AGG-001, AGG-002, AGG-004, AGG-005, AGG-006, AGG-007, AGG-009, AGG-010, AGG-012, AGG-013, AGG-014, AGG-015, AGG-016, AGG-017, AGG-018, AGG-019, AGG-020, AGG-021), CC BY 4.0 for the compilation. The lb per cubic yard values are Caterpillar's, read in its earthwork volumes reference tables; the kg per cubic metre values are the dataset's value_si column, converted from lb/yd3 with the exact NIST factors and rounded to 4 significant digits. Columns: material, loose_id, loose_condition, loose_lb_yd3, loose_kg_m3, bank_id, bank_lb_yd3, bank_kg_m3, bank_to_loose (bank / loose, computed). The same dataset is on DataHub.

In the dataset, the used_by_tool_url column of these rows points to these TakeoffMetric calculator pages:

How the calculators use them: methodology.

Densities change with moisture, gradation and compaction. Confirm with your supplier before ordering.

Built with D3 v7. Code: MIT.