Government

Estimating for Mission Requirements (reproduces FM 5-434 Earthmoving Operations, Table 1-1)

United States Marine Corps, TECOM

Soil conversion (swell) factors. Search summary only.

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Consulted: October 10, 2026
Region: US
Language: en

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What we take from it

Excavated soil takes more volume than in the ground (swell), more for clay than for sand.
The FM 5-434 factors convert bank volume to loose volume (1.25 for loam, 1.43 for clay) and to compacted volume (0.90 for loam and clay).