A scale ticket includes water held by the aggregate. Enter the wet load’s net US short tons and the wet and dried masses of a representative sample to estimate how much of that load is dry material.

Formula: dry-basis moisture % = (wet sample − dry sample) ÷ dry sample × 100; dry load = wet load × dry sample ÷ wet sample; water = wet load − dry load; 1 US short ton = 2,000 lb

Worked example

A 1,050 g wet sample dries to 1,000 g, so moisture is 5% of dry mass. A 21-short-ton wet delivery with that same moisture contains an estimated 20 short tons of dry aggregate and 1 short ton (2,000 lb) of water.

Keep the sample and load on the same basis

Subtract the sample container’s mass from both readings and use the same sample before and after drying. The wet delivery must be net material weight, excluding the truck. The estimate assumes the sample represents the moisture throughout that load.

Five percent moisture does not mean subtract five percent of wet weight

Total aggregate moisture is commonly expressed relative to oven-dry mass. At 5% on that basis, wet mass is 1.05 times dry mass, so divide wet tonnage by 1.05. The water fraction of wet mass is then about 4.762%.

This is a mass split, not a concrete mix adjustment

Total water includes absorbed water as well as surface moisture. This tool does not determine saturated-surface-dry mass, aggregate absorption or water to add to a concrete batch. Moisture and compaction also affect bulk volume; do not infer dry cubic yards from this mass split alone.

Explore the related calculation

For a different starting point, try the scale-ticket calculator or return to the main calculator. Browse the complete tool directory for this site.

Reference and corrections

The definitions and assumptions above follow these sources; the examples and calculator arithmetic are original to this page.

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Wet to dry aggregate weight calculator

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