Cold-Planing (Milling) Production and RAP Tonnage
Square yards per hour a cold planer cuts and the reclaimed-asphalt (RAP) tonnage it makes, which sizes the haul fleet.
Example
You enter
- Cutting drum width (ft) 7
- Milling forward speed (ft/min) 30
- Cut depth (in) 4
- Existing pavement density (pcf) 148
- Job efficiency (0-1) 0.7
You get
- Milling production 980 sy/hr
- Spread (lb/SY) 444
- RAP generated 217.6 tph
No published worked example is on file for this calculation. It is checked against a hand-worked derivation of its method and an independent reference test.
Details, formula, and sources
Scopesy/hr = drum width x speed x 60 x efficiency / 9; RAP tph = sy/hr x depth x density x 0.75 / 2000. A 7 ft drum at 30 ft/min covers 980 sy/hr, and a 4 in cut of 148 pcf pavement is ~218 tph of RAP - a truck every three minutes, or the mill stops. Field conditions govern the efficiency.
Formula or tablesy_per_hr = drum_width_ft x speed_fpm x 60 x efficiency / 9; spread_lb_per_sy = depth_in x density_pcf x 0.75; rap_tph = sy_per_hr x spread_lb_per_sy / 2000.
Source and editionCold-planing production identity by name (area rate from drum/speed/efficiency; RAP from area rate x spread); first-principles production arithmetic.
Free accessThe production and RAP geometry are public first-principles arithmetic; the efficiency comes from field conditions.
What governsEstimate. AHJ and licensed professional govern.
API field namesdrum_width_ft, speed_fpm, depth_in, density_pcf, efficiency, sy_per_hr, spread_lb_per_sy, rap_tph
- Efficiency job efficiency ~0.7 default, lower than paving; field conditions (truck changes, repositioning) governfield conditions
- RAP density the density of the existing pavement being cut, ~148 pcf defaultexisting pavement