Earthmoving Truck Loads Calculator

How the earthmoving truck loads calculator works

Loose volume = bank volume × (1 + entered swell percentage / 100). Estimated material mass = loose cubic metres × entered loose-state tonnes per cubic metre. Swell is explicitly defined as an increase from bank to loose volume; it is not an inverse load factor.

Volume-constrained trips = ceil(loose volume ÷ usable truck volume). Mass-constrained trips = ceil(estimated tonnes ÷ approved operating payload). Required trips are the greater count. The effective volume per full trip is the smaller of truck volume and payload ÷ loose density.

Trip charges = whole required trips × entered quote per trip, rounded half-up to cents. Zero bank volume produces no trips or charges. The model assumes uniform material and capacity and does not optimize routes, schedules, partial-trip pricing or fleet mixes.

Use current measured or supplier-appropriate density and swell inputs. Moisture and material changes matter. The entered payload must already reflect legal, manufacturer, axle, road and operating restrictions. This tool does not certify a safe or legal load. Caterpillar’s material-state discussion supplies context for using consistent volume bases.

Worked example

100 m³ bank volume with an entered 20% swell becomes 120 m³ loose. At 1.6 tonnes/m³ this is 192 tonnes. A 12 m³ truck needs 10 trips by volume, but a 15-tonne operating payload needs 13 trips by mass. The estimate is 13 trips, or 1,300 at an illustrative 100/trip. A 20-tonne entered payload reduces this case to 10 trips.

Sources and assumptions

The source material explains the underlying calculation or pricing structure. Entered prices, costs, schedules and scenario choices are your assumptions; this tool does not obtain supplier quotes or predict actual results.

• Caterpillar: swell, void percentage and load factors