What is Civil Engineering? » Formulas and Units http://www.civilcraftstructures.com Blogging of Civil Engineering, Construction Work and Higher Learning Sat, 14 May 2011 11:20:34 +0000 en hourly 1 Conversion Factors for Soil Testing http://www.civilcraftstructures.com/formulas-and-units/conversion-factors-for-soil-testing/ http://www.civilcraftstructures.com/formulas-and-units/conversion-factors-for-soil-testing/#comments Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:58:17 +0000 Civil-Guy http://www.civilcraftstructures.com/?p=2155

A good engineering practice is to comply factors of conversion into form of tables for easier reference. We oath to think to much inside our mind and will definitely forget it as we thought it is not too important to remember or the units is already given as reference in some cases. In the previous post, compilation of conversion factors between Imperial and SI Units.

This tables of conversion factors, between English (British) and SI Units used for many application especially in soil mechanics field and soil laboratory (plus in-situ) testing. It is useful for application in soil testing via laboratory, as accordance to British Standards, American Society for Testing and Materials or any other standards used as construction specification.

The tables below is pretty much straight forward…

Parameters SI Units English Units
Length 1 mm 3.937 x 10-2 in.
3.218 x 10-3 ft
1 m 39.37 in.
3.281 ft
Area 1 cm2 0.155 in.2
1.076 x 10-3 ft2
1 m2 1550 in.2
10.76 ft2
Volume 1 cm3 0.061 in.3
3.531 x 10-5 ft3
1 m3 61023.74 in.3
35.315 ft3
Force 1 N 0.22482 lb
1 kN 0.22482 kip
Velocity 1 cm/s 1.969 ft/min
1034643.6 ft/year
Stress 1 kN/m2 0.145 lb/in.2

20.89 lb/ft2
Mass 1 kg 2.2046 lb
2.2046 x 10-3 kip
Unit Weight 1 kN/m3 6.367 lb/ft3
Coefficient of Consolidation 1 cm2/s 0.155 in.2/s
2.883 x 103 ft2/month

CCS: Table 2 (a): Conversion from SI Units to English Units

Parameters English Units SI Units

Length

 1 in 25.4 mm
1 ft 0.3048 m
304.8 mm
Area 1 in.2 6.4516 x 10-4 m2
6.4516 cm2
645.16 mm2
1 ft2 929 x 10-4 m2
929.03 cm2
9203 mm2

Volume

 1 in.3 16.387 cm3
1 ft3 0.028317 m3
28317 mm3
Force 1 lb 4.448 N
Velocity 1 ft/s 304.8 mm/s
0.3048 m/s
1 ft/min 5.08 mm/s
0.00508 m/s
Stress 1 lb/in.2 6.9 kN/m2
1 lb/ft2 47.88 N/m2
Mass 1 lb 0.4536 kg
Unit Weight 1 lb/ft3 157.06 N/m3
Coefficient of Consolidation 1 in.2/s 6.452 cm2/s
1 ft2/s 929.03 cm2/s

CCS: Table 2 (b): Conversion from English Units to SI Units

Calculator

The conversion units shown in CCS: Table 2 (a) and (b) above would be our general guideline or reference especially in the field of materials testing. I personally gathered this useful information from various reference as laboratory testing guidelines. With that in mind, hopefully this reference may help and may develop your skill in converting units effectively and accurately…

[ Photo via Flickr ]

Read More Constructive Posts:

]]> http://www.civilcraftstructures.com/formulas-and-units/conversion-factors-for-soil-testing/feed/ 1 Conversion Factor of Imperial and SI Units http://www.civilcraftstructures.com/formulas-and-units/conversion-factor-of-imperial-and-si-units/ http://www.civilcraftstructures.com/formulas-and-units/conversion-factor-of-imperial-and-si-units/#comments Wed, 03 Feb 2010 10:22:34 +0000 Civil-Guy http://civilcraftstructures.com/?p=1543

Sometimes other people asked me what is the conversion from this unit to this unit, say meters to inches . And then I started to count in my head or think of some clue…ohh, gushhh…I forgot and simply said to check it later on. So, I’m doing myself a favor by complying this basic fundamental conversion factors, which is between Imperial and SI units. That is when I realized the important of this knowledge as it is very useful for many application later on…

It is a good practice to comply everything into forms of table for reference. We oath to think to much inside our mind and will definitely forget it as we thought it is not too important to remember or the units is already given as reference in some cases. Some country still using Imperial units like the United States (i.e. foot) and mostly using the SI units especially for engineering purposes.

Parameters

Imperial to SI

SI to Imperial
Length 0.3048
25.4		 m
mm		 3.281
0.03937		 ft (foot)
in (inch)
Area 0.09290
645.2		 m2
mm2		 10.76
0.001550		 square foot
square inch
Volume 0.02832
4.546
3.785
28.32
16.39
16387		 m3
litre
litre
litre
ml
mm3		 35.31
0.2200
0.2642
0.03531
0.06102		 cubit foot
gallon (UK)
gallon (US)
cubit foot
cubit inch
cubit inch
Mass 1.016
0.4536
453.6
28.35		 Mg or tonne
kg
g
g		 0.9842
2.205
0.3527		 ton
lb (pound)
lb (pound)
oz (ounce)
Density 0.01602 Mg/m3 or g/cm3 62.43 pound/cubic foot
Force 9.964
4.448		 kN
N		 0.1004
0.2248		 ton force
pound force
Pressure 0.04788
6.895
47.88		 kN/m2 or kPa
kN/m2
kN/m2 or Pa		 20.89
0.1450
0.02089		 lb f/sq ft
lb f/sq in
lb f/sq ft

CCS: Table 1

Examples of conversion:
Taking the 1st row, the Length parameter

  • Converting Imperial to SI unit; 1 ft / 3.281 = 0.3048 m
  • Converting SI to Imperial unit; 1 m / 0.3048 = 3.281 ft

How about converting in to m; we knew that 1 ft = 12 in = 0.3048 m
So, 1 in = (1 x 0.3048) / 12 = 0.0254 m

Taking the 2nd row, the Area parameter

  • Converting Imperial to SI unit; 1 sq. ft / 10.76 = 0.09290 m2
  • Converting SI to Imperial unit; 1 m2 / 0.09290 = 10.76 sq. ft

How about converting sq.in to m2; we knew that 1 sq.ft = (12 x 12) sq.in = 0.09290 m2
So, 1 sq.in = (1 x 0.09290) / (12 x 12) = 0.0006451 m2

The conversion units shown in CCS: Table 1 above would be our general guideline or reference whereas we still need to calculate further such as in the conversion examples. With that in mind, I hope this will help (me personally) and may develop your skill in converting units effectively and accurately…

Read More Constructive Posts:

]]> http://www.civilcraftstructures.com/formulas-and-units/conversion-factor-of-imperial-and-si-units/feed/ 0