Soil bulking and swell factor calculator.
Convert bank-measure (in-situ) soil volumes to loose or compacted volume across as many materials as you need. Enter the volume and soil type for each row, tell the shared selector whether that figure is bank, loose or compacted, & this soil bulking factor calculator will find all three volumes for every row. Loose fits more truck loads than bank; compacted fill usually settles denser than bank. A second selector picks the low, typical or high published factor for your material. This calculator is a planning estimate, not a substitute for a site geotechnical report. Output feeds our Cut & Fill, Trench and Truck Load calculators directly.
Drop an Excel or CSV file or to replace the table below.
Column A: material or location. Column B: volume, on whichever basis the "Volume entered is" selector is set to. Column C (optional): soil type — rock, clay, common earth, sand, gravel or topsoil; rows without a recognised value default to sandy clay / common earth.
Parsed entirely in your browser — your file is never uploaded to our servers.
| Material / location | Volume (m³) | Ground type | Bank (m³) | Loose (m³) | Compacted (m³) | Row actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | — |
How we calculate this.
Convert bank-measure (in-situ) soil volumes to loose or compacted volume across as many materials as you need. Enter the volume and soil type for each row, tell the shared selector whether that figure is bank, loose or compacted, & this soil bulking factor calculator will find all three volumes for every row. Loose fits more truck loads than bank; compacted fill usually settles denser than bank. A second selector picks the low, typical or high published factor for your material. This calculator is a planning estimate, not a substitute for a site geotechnical report. Output feeds our Cut & Fill, Trench and Truck Load calculators directly.
Each row's entered volume is first converted to bank (in-situ) measure according to the "Volume entered is" selector: bank = entered if already bank, bank = entered ÷ bulking factor if entered as loose, or bank = entered ÷ shrinkage factor if entered as compacted. From that bank volume: loose volume = bank volume × bulking factor, compacted volume = bank volume × shrinkage factor. Each factor is read from the low/typical/high point of the published range for that row's selected material, per the "Factor range" selector — see the assumptions above for each range and its source. The two summary percentages are weighted by each row's bank volume, not a plain average of the per-row factors.
| Assumption | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Rock (blasted) | 1.40–1.50 bulking / 0.95–1.05 shrink factor | Typical published earthmoving bulking/shrinkage factors (e.g. Caterpillar Performance Handbook and general earthworks estimating references) — confirm against site-specific geotechnical data. |
| Clay | 1.20–1.30 bulking / 0.80–0.90 shrink factor | Same source as above. |
| Sandy clay / common earth | 1.15–1.25 bulking / 0.85–0.95 shrink factor | Same source as above. |
| Sand | 1.05–1.15 bulking / 0.90–1.00 shrink factor | Same source as above. |
| Gravel | 1.10–1.20 bulking / 0.90–1.00 shrink factor | Same source as above. |
| Loam / topsoil | 1.20–1.25 bulking / 0.85–0.95 shrink factor | Same source as above. |
| Multi-row averages | bank-volume-weighted, not a simple mean of row factors | The two summary percentages weight each row's factor by its own bank volume, so a large low-bulking row correctly outweighs a small high-bulking one. |
| Factor range selection | low/typical/high index both ranges at the same end | The shared "Factor range" selector picks the low, midpoint or high value from each material's published range above for both its bulking and shrinkage factor together — it is not an independently conservative/optimistic setting, since the conservative end differs by use (high bulking is conservative for haulage sizing, low shrinkage is conservative for winning fill). |
This is an early-appraisal planning estimate, not a quotation or a substitute for a surveyed takeoff. Last reviewed 5 Aug 2026.
It's the ratio of loose (excavated) volume to bank (in-situ) volume. It matters because haulage — truck loads, skip sizes — is always in loose measure, while design volumes are usually in bank measure, so mixing the two under-sizes haulage.
Yes — set "Volume entered is" to Loose or Compacted and enter that figure per row; the calculator converts it back to bank measure first, then derives the other two. This is how you size how much bank-measure material to win to fill a given compacted target, or how much bank you're removing given a known truck (loose) load.
Typical (the midpoint) is a reasonable default for early appraisal. For haulage sizing, the high end of the bulking range is the conservative choice (it won't undersize truck numbers); for winning fill to a compacted target, the low end of the shrinkage range is conservative (it won't undersize the bank volume you order). The selector applies the same low/typical/high point to both factors together, so pick per use case rather than assuming one setting is always safest.
Typical published ranges from earthmoving/estimating references (e.g. the Caterpillar Performance Handbook). Real factors vary with moisture content and exact material — treat this as a planning estimate.
Usually for soils, yes — well-compacted fill is typically denser than the original ground. Some rock fill can end up close to or slightly above bank volume if voids aren't fully closed, which is why the ranges above are wide.
Loose and compacted totals are a straight sum across every row. The bulking and shrinkage percentages shown are weighted by each row's bank volume, so a large volume of one material has proportionally more influence on the average than a small volume of another.
Yes — click or drop an Excel (.xlsx/.xls) or CSV file onto the upload area. The first column should be an item name and the second the measurement for that row; extra columns this calculator uses are read too if present. The file is parsed entirely in your browser — it's never uploaded to our servers. Download the blank template first if you're not sure of the layout.
Yes — use the metric/imperial switch above the calculator. Values you've already entered convert automatically; nothing is lost switching back and forth.
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