How to Calculate Weight of a Steel Plate?

Steel Plate
Weight Calculator (PDF)
whatispiping.com/calculate-weight-of-a-steel-plate/

Anup Kumar Dey June 20, 2022

Many a time we need to know the weight of a steel plate we are using. In general, for
billing and procurement purposes, the weight of the steel part must be known. Most of the
engineering steel products like pipes, plates, etc are sold in the market with respect to
weight only. So, the calculation of steel plates or other products is very important. In this
article, we will learn one of the basic formulas to calculate the steel plate weight manually
so that we can easily prepare a steel plate weight calculator easily.

Parameters Affecting Steel Plate Weight

To calculate the weight of a steel plate, we have to know some of the parameters that
affect the weight calculation. Before proceeding with the actual equation for calculating
steel plate weight, let’s understand those parameters first.

For the calculation of steel plate weight, we need to know the following two pieces of
information:

Material Density
Material Dimension (Length, width, and thickness)

Material Density

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The weight of any product varies proportionately with respect to its density which means
products with higher density will have more weight as compared to products with lower
density. Here as we are talking about steel plates we have to know the density of the
specific type of steel material.

Normally, Carbon steel has a density of 7850 Kg/m3 and stainless steel has a density of
8000 Kg/m3. These densities can vary depending on exact material grades and
temperature. So, to calculate the steel plate weight of a specific grade, we have to find
the density of that specific steel plate material.

The densities of a specific grade of material are usually available in the ASTM standards
and Specific design codes. Alternately, you can approach the manufacturer to get the
densities of their produced material.

Material Dimensions (Length, width, and thickness)

The length, width, and thickness of the steel plate are required to calculate the volume of
the plate. All dimensions must be in a consistent unit to calculate the volume.

Formula for Calculating the Weight of Steel Plate

Once, the material density (D) and the plate length (L), Width (B), and Thickness (T) are
known we can use the following formula to calculate the weight of the steel plate (W):

Weight of Steel plate =Density of the plate X Volume of the plate

W=D * (L*B*T)

Here for the metric unit

W is in Kg
D is in Kg/m3
L, B, and T each are in m.

Calculating the Weight of Carbon Steel Plate

The weight of carbon steel plate=Length * Width * Thickness * Density

Let’s assume a carbon steel plate has a length of 10 m, a width of 4 m, and a thickness of
10 mm.
So, considering the density of the carbon steel plate as 7850 Kg/m3, the weight of the
plate= 104(10/1000)*7850=3140 Kg.
In a similar way, we can calculate the
weight of all other grades of carbon steel plates.

Note that, the actual metal weight while purchasing may vary significantly from the
calculated weight as there will be variations of tolerance and composition during
manufacturing.

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Calculating the Weight of Stainless Steel Plate
In a similar way, to calculate the weight of SS or DSS plates you gave to know the
dimensions and densities of the specific grade. Then multiply those in the consistent unit
following the formula mentioned above and calculate the plate weight.

The same philosophy and equation can be used to calculate the weight of any plate. If the
thickness of the plates varies then calculate the weight of each part and then finally add
all to get the overall plate weight.

Steel Plate Weight Calculator

So, using the above formula you can easily prepare your own steel plate weight calculator
in excel sheet, visual basic, or any other program. Also, you can get various online steel
plate weight calculators for getting ready-made rough weights.

Click here to learn the calculation for pipe weight

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