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The International System of Units (Systéme International d’Unités, or SI) recognizes seven basic units
from which all others are derived. They are:
This appendix presents the SI and English (imperial) units, which are used in various areas of trans-
portation engineering, and their conversion factors. Some metric units and factors that are not listed in
the SI but are commonly used and remain internationally recognized are also included. Examples are
the units of centimeter (10 2 m), hour (3.6 103 s) and kilowatt-hour (3.6 MJ) and multiples of 10,
102, 10 1, and 10 2.
DIMENSION
SI unit (symbol) English unit (symbol)
Conversion factors
(for conversion in the direction of the arrow, multiply by the number provided)
LENGTH
AREA
square millimeter (mm2) square inch (in 2)
square centimeter (cm2) square foot (ft2)
square meter (m2) square yard (yd2)
hectare (ha) acre
square kilometer (km2) square mile (mi 2)
6.452 1296 in.2 = 9 ft2 = 1 yd2
cm2 in.2
106 mm2 = 104 cm2 = 1 m2 0.1550 3,097,600 yd2 = 640
106 m2 = 102 ha = 1 km2 0.0929 acres = 1 mi 2
m2 ft2
10.76
0.8361
m2 yd2
1.196
0.4047
ha acre
2.471
2.590
km2 mi 2
0.3861
VOLUME
cubic millimeter (mm3) cubic inch (in.3)
cubic centimeter (cm3 or cc) quart (qt)
liter (L) gallon* (g)
cubic meter (m3) cubic foot (ft3)
cubic yard (yd3)
106 mm3 = 103 cm3 = 1 L
106 cm3 = 103 L = 1 m3 46,656 in.3 = 27 ft3 = 1 yd3
4 qt = 1 gal = 231 in.3
16.39 1 qt = 57.75 in.3
cm3 in.3
0.0610
3.785
L gal
0.2642
0.0283
m3 ft3
35.32
0.7646
m3 yd3
1.308
568 APPENDIX
APPENDIX
I I 568
MASS
gram (g) ounce (oz)
kilogram (kg) pound (lb), pounds mass
(metric) tone or tonne (t) (lbm)
(short) ton (tn+ or stn),
28.35 long ton (ltn)
g oz
0.0353
3
10 g = 1 kg 0.4536 16 oz = 1 lb
103 kg = 1 t kg lb 2000 lb = 1 tn
2.205
2240 lb = 1.12 tn = 1 ltn
0.9072
t tn
1.102
1.016
t ltn
0.9842
DENSITY
grams/cubic centimeter ounces/cubic inch (oz/in.3)
(g/cm3) pounds/cubic inch (lb/in.3)
grams/liter (g/L) pounds/cubic foot (lb/ft3)
kilograms/cubic meter 16 oz/in.3 = 1 lb/in.3 =
(kg/m3) 1728 lb/ft 3
m3 ft
1.686
SPEED
meters/second (m/s) feet/second (ft/s)
kilometers/hour (km/h) miles/hour (mph)
ACCELERATION
meters per second squared feet per second squared (ft/s2)
(m/s2) miles per hour per second
(km/h/s is not used) (mphps)
g = 32.18 ft/s2
g = 9.807 m/s2 1 mphps = 1.467 ft/s2
0.3048
m/s2 ft/s2
3.281
0.4470
m/s2 mphps
2.237
JERK
meters per second cubed feet per second cubed (ft/s3)
(m/s3)
FORCE, WEIGHT
dyne (dyn) ounce (oz)
newton (N) pound force (lbf)
kilonewton (kN) 103 pounds (kip)
(metric) ton or tonne (t) (not in SI) (short) ton force (tnf or s.tnf )
3200 oz = 2000 lbf = 1 tnf
108 dynes = 10 N = 1 kN
Force = weight acceleration
Force = mass acceleration
gravity const. (gc)
LINEAL MASS*
PRESSURE*
pascal (Pa) pounds force per square
kilogram force per square inch (lbf/in.2) (psi)
meter (kgf/m2) pounds force per square
1 kgf/m2 = 9.807 Pa foot (lbf/ft2)
6,894.76
Pa psi
1.45 10–4
47.88
Pa lbf/ft2
0.02089
ENERGY
erg British thermal unit (BTU)
joule (J) foot-pound force (ft-lbf)
J kWh ft-lbf
0.2778 10–6 2.665 106
POWER
ergs per second foot-pounds force per
horsepower (metric) (HP) second (ft-lbf/s)
horsepower (British) (hp)
1 HP (metric) = 75 kg-m/s
Joint units: 1 hp (British) = 550 ft-lbf/s
HP (metric) kW hp (British)
0.7355 1.341
TORQUE
dyne-centimeter (dyn-cm) inch-pounds force (in.-lbf)
newton-meter (N-m) foot-pounds force (ft-lbf)
1.356
N-m ft-lbf
0.7376