Unit Converter for Engineers

Convert 327 engineering units across 44 categories — pressure, flow, viscosity, torque, thermal conductivity, section modulus — in SI, metric and US/Imperial.

When to use this calculator

Use it whenever a datasheet, vendor quote, or standard arrives in the wrong unit system: a pump curve in GPM and feet of head against a spec in m³/h and bar, a US mill certificate in ksi next to an EN allowable in MPa, a viscosity in centistokes when the correlation wants m²/s. It covers the engineering quantities that general-purpose converters skip — second moment of area, section modulus, moment of inertia, specific volume, mass flux density, molar flow, heat transfer coefficient, thermal expansion coefficient, and permeability in darcy/millidarcy.

Required inputs

  • Unit category — 44 available, grouped as Common, Engineering, Fluids, and Heat & Energy
  • Source value
  • Source unit and target unit (searchable within the category)
  • Output precision — auto, 2, 4, or 6 decimals, or scientific notation

Expected outputs

  • Converted value at the selected precision
  • Conversion factor line (1 source unit = N target units)
  • Unit metadata — full name, symbol, measurement system, and the category base unit
  • Copy-to-clipboard result

Formula overview

SI, metric, metric-gravitational (kgf/cm², kgf·s/m²), US/Imperial, and scientific units sit side by side in each category — pressure alone carries 19 units including bar, psi, ksi, MPa, kgf/cm², atm, Torr, mmHg, inHg, and head units (mH₂O, inH₂O, ftH₂O). Each unit is tagged with its system, and rarely used ones are marked Specialized.

Every category converts through one SI base unit, using one of four methods:

linear      base = value × factor        out = base ÷ factor
affine      base = value × factor + off  out = (base − off) ÷ factor
reciprocal  base = constant ÷ value      out = constant ÷ base
radix       parse in source base, format in target base

linear covers pressure, flow, torque, viscosity and most of the catalogue.
affine is used only for absolute temperature (K, °C, °F, °R).
reciprocal handles inverse quantities such as fuel economy (km/L ↔ L/100 km).
radix converts integers between decimal, binary, octal and hexadecimal.

Worked example

1) Linear — pressure, 10 bar → psi
   base = 10 × 100 000 = 1 000 000 Pa
   out  = 1 000 000 ÷ 6894.757293 = 145.04 psi

2) Affine — temperature, 100 °C → °F
   base = 100 × 1 + 273.15 = 373.15 K
   out  = (373.15 − 255.372222) ÷ 0.555556 = 212.00 °F

3) Reciprocal — fuel economy, 12 km/L → L/100 km
   base = 100 ÷ 12 = 8.33 L/100 km

4) Flow — 50 m³/h → US GPM
   base = 50 × 0.000277778 = 0.013889 m³/s
   out  = 0.013889 ÷ 0.0000630902 = 220.10 gpm

Common mistakes

  • Confusing gauge with absolute pressure. The converter scales magnitudes only — it has no gauge/absolute datum switch, so add or subtract atmospheric pressure yourself (bara = barg + 1.01325).
  • Converting a temperature difference in the Temperature category. An 80 °C rise is not 176 °F — use the separate Temperature Interval category, where 1 °C = 1 K and 1 °F = 0.555556 K.
  • Mixing US and Imperial gallons. US gpm and UK gpm differ by about 20% (0.0000630902 vs 0.0000757682 m³/s), and the same trap applies to mpg (US) vs mpg (UK).
  • Treating kgf/cm² as exactly 1 bar. It is 0.980665 bar — a 2% error that matters on a hydrotest or a relief-valve set point.
  • Reading kgf/cm² or mmH₂O off an old gauge and entering it as SI without converting, or using mechanical horsepower (745.70 W) where the datasheet meant metric PS (735.50 W).

FAQ

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