Plan pours with truck capacity, fill factor, and realistic travel cycles today. See required trucks, loads, timing, and cost to avoid stoppages on site.
| Scenario | Volume | Truck cap | Fill | Overage | Pour rate | Cycle time | Loads | Trucks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Slab pour | 50 m³ | 8 m³ | 0.95 | 5% | 20 m³/h | 88 min | 7 | 5 |
| Footings | 22 m³ | 6 m³ | 0.90 | 7% | 12 m³/h | 75 min | 5 | 6 |
| Pumped wall | 35 m³ | 7 m³ | 0.92 | 4% | 18 m³/h | 95 min | 6 | 6 |
Fresh concrete loses workability with time, temperature, and mixing energy. A steady stream of trucks reduces waiting, limits retempering, and helps maintain uniform slump across the pour. For many mixes, controlling delivery rhythm is as important as controlling total volume, especially on large slabs and continuous placements.
Nominal drum capacity is rarely the delivered volume per trip. Fill factor captures partial loading, plant constraints, or conservative batching. For example, an 8 m³ truck at 0.95 fill delivers about 7.6 m³ each trip. Small changes here strongly affect load count, spacing, and the number of trucks required to keep pace.
Overage covers waste, subgrade irregularities, form leakage, priming losses for pumps, and finishing allowance. Typical planning values range from 3% to 10% depending on geometry and site control. The calculator applies overage before determining loads, so dispatch aligns with realistic demand and reduces the risk of a short pour.
Cycle time combines plant loading, travel to site, discharge time, return travel, and buffer for queueing. Track these as minutes per truck on a typical day, then update with real observations. If traffic varies, use conservative peaks. Reducing cycle time by 10 minutes can remove a full truck from the continuous-supply requirement on tighter schedules.
To sustain a target rate R, trucks must arrive every Δt = Ceff/R hours. With 7.6 m³ effective capacity and a 20 m³/h pour rate, arrivals should average about 23 minutes. If arrivals slip, placement slows, finishers wait, and critical lifts may face cold-joint risk. Use spacing as a control variable you can communicate clearly to dispatch.
Required trucks are estimated as ⌈Tcycle/Δt⌉, which represents a fleet continuously rotating through the cycle. If your minimum/maximum truck limits constrain this number, the calculator reports an achievable average delivery rate. That value helps you decide whether to add a second plant, adjust pour sequencing, or extend the placement window.
Total truck-hours are approximated as loads × cycle time. This supports quick comparisons between scenarios such as nearer plants, faster discharge methods, or tighter spacing. If your supplier bills per load plus standby, use this estimate as a planning baseline, then add standby time when site constraints create queues.
Confirm access, washout, and pump setup before the first truck arrives. Stagger start times so the initial queue is small, then maintain consistent spacing. Keep a dedicated dispatcher contact and a single person calling adjustments. Update travel time assumptions after the first two trucks and recalibrate spacing if conditions change. Logging actual cycle times improves accuracy for every future pour.
Use 0.90–0.98 for most projects. Choose lower values if the plant restricts loading, the route limits weight, or you want conservative planning. Confirm typical ticketed volume with your supplier.
Loads count the total trips needed for the adjusted volume. Trucks required estimates the fleet size needed to keep arrivals continuous at your target pour rate, given the measured cycle time.
Measure time from truck positioning to departure, including washout steps. Pumped placements may discharge faster but can add queue delays. Use an average value and add buffer for tight access.
Many slab and footing pours plan 3–7%. Complex shapes, pump priming, or uncertain subgrade can push 8–10%. Better measurement, form control, and grade checks usually reduce overage.
Increase truck count, reduce cycle time, or lower the target pour rate. Often the quickest improvements come from faster discharge flow, better staging, and reducing onsite waiting or rework.
Yes. The calculator converts internally using 1 yd³ = 0.764554857984 m³. You can set volume and truck units independently, and results will display using your selected units.
No. Use it to prepare realistic requests and identify bottlenecks. Always confirm dispatch limits, plant capacity, allowable delivery windows, and any standby or short-load charges with your supplier.
Important Note: All the Calculators listed in this site are for educational purpose only and we do not guarentee the accuracy of results. Please do consult with other sources as well.