Circular Slab Concrete Calculator

Calculate the amount of concrete needed in cubic feet and cubic yards for a slab in the
shape of a circle.
To calculate the concrete volume needed for this type of slab, you need to know the circle's
diameter and the depth of this slab..

Formulas used:
Area>
A = π * D² ÷ 4
where A is the area in square feet, π = 3.14159265358979, D = diameter of circle

Perimeter
P=π*D
where P is the perimeter in feet, π = 3.14159265358979, D = diameter of circle

Volume
V = π * D² ÷ 4 * (d ÷ 12)
where V is the volume in cubic feet, π = 3.14159265358979, D = diameter of circle, d =
depth of slab in inches ÷ 12 converting this to feet

Example calculation for volume:

Diameter of slab = 12 feet
depth of slab = 4 inches

Area
Calculate the area in square feet using the Area formula;
3.14159 * 12² ÷ 4 = 3.14159 * 144 ÷ 4 = 113.1 (rounded to one digit)
The area of the slab is 113.1 square feet

Perimeter
Calculate the circumference (perimeter) of this slab using the Perimeter formula;
3.14159 * 12 = 37.6 (rounded to one digit)
This slab has a circumference of 37.7 feet

Volume
Calculate the amount of concrete you need for this slab using the Volume formula;
 3.14159 * 12² ÷ 4 * (4 ÷ 12 ) = 3.14159 * 144 ÷ 4 * 0.333 = 37.7 (rounded to one digit)
The volume of this slab is 37.7 cubic feet

You will need 37.7 * 0.037 = 1.4 cubic yards of concrete to pour this slab.

To convert cubic feet to cubic yards multiply cubic feet * 0.037037037037037

To convert cubic feet to cubic metres multiply cubic feet * 0.028316846592
To convert cubic yards to cubic metres multiply cubic yards * 0.764554857984

Estimating Shortcuts for

Circular Concrete Shapes
There’s more than one way to calculate quantities for
curved slabs and tube forms. We review the standard
math, add a shortcut, and throw in a cheat sheet for good
measure.
BY SAL ALFANO | March 08, 2019

   

When it comes to estimating concrete quantities, most remodelers rely on a quote from
a subcontractor. But occasionally it’s easier to estimate the costs yourself for a small job,
such as a patio slab or a group of concrete piers to support a deck. Both of those
examples involve calculating volume of concrete needed, which is simple enough for a
rectangular slab, but a bit more complicated for a cylindrical tube form or a semi-circular
patio.
These days, you can key a few numbers into an online calculator that will spit out the
quantity of concrete needed. But the math behind the calculation is easy, and it won’t
hurt to be reminded how to make the calculation manually just in case your WiFi is on
the blink. Plus, I just discovered a cool shortcut that’s worth knowing.
Volume of a Cylinder: #TheHardWay

A tube form is a tall, skinny cylinder, and a circular slab is a short, wide cylinder. As with
all cylinders, calculating volume (V) requires multiplying the area of a circle (πr 2) by the
height (h). Let’s look first at a 10-inch tube form that’s 6 feet tall. To find the volume, you
must: 1) find the radius; 2) convert inches to feet; and 3) plug the results into the formula
V = πr2 x h [1]. 

The Shortcut
Okay, that was fun, but it’s a lot easier to consult a table of common tube form
diameters and the amount of concrete needed to fill them per foot of height [2].
That said, the actual math comes in handy when the cylinder is a patio slab. And it’s a
little easier due to a shortcut I discovered while watching a video at our sister website,
ProTradeCraft.com, that features Tim Odell of Odell Complete Concrete, a concrete
contractor serving Orange County, Calif. 
Of the many instructional videos available at the company’s website and YouTube
channel, this one is about calculating the amount of concrete needed for a curved patio
slab. In it, Odell reveals a shortcut that I’d never seen before: The area of a circle is
78.5% the area of a square of the same dimension. Let’s look at an example.
Odell refers to drawings of a pie-shaped patio slab that projects 18 feet out from the
house. The slab is a perfect quarter circle and, using his shortcut, he finds the area by
taking a square of the same size, then multiplying by 0.785 to find the area of the pie
shape [3]. All that’s left to get the volume is to multiply by the thickness of the slab,
which in this case is 4 inches. To actually order the concrete, of course, you have to
convert to cubic yards.

Shortcutting the Tube

Coming full circle, as it were, this little trick also works with concrete tube forms.
Returning to the earlier example of a 10-inch-diameter tube form, the area of a 10-inch
square is 100 square inches (10 x 10) or 0.69 square feet (100/144). Multiply that by
0.785, and you get 0.545 square feet for the area of the 10-inch circle formed by the
tube. The volume of a 6-foot-tall tube is still 3.3 cubic feet (0.545 x 6)
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