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Calculating the area of a cable.

For single-strand cable use the following formula to calculate the exact area of the cable where the

diameter of the cable-strand is known:

s = π (D/2)2

Where:

s = area of a single strand

D = diameter of a single strand

p = 3.14

As an example, let's consider a single-strand cable with a wire diameter of 0.9mm. Applying the

above formula we get:

s = 3.14(0.9/2)2

 = 3.14(0.45)2

 = 3.14 × 0.20

 = 0.64mm2

The following formula can be used to calculate the approximate area of a multi-strand cable where

both the diameter of an individual strand and the strand-count are known:

s = π (d2 / 4) (to get the area of a single strand)

S = n.s (to get the approximate area of a number of strands)

Where:

s = area of a single strand

D = diameter of a single strand

p = 3.14S = area of defined no. of strands

n = number of strands

As an example, let's assume we want to know the area for a copper conductor cable having

41 strands of 0.20mm wire.

First we need to calculate the area of a single strand:

(d2) = 0.20 × 0.20 = 0.04

π (d2

) = 0.04 × 3.14 = 0.12560.1256 / 4 = 0.0314

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The approximate area for 41 strands is:

41 × 0.0314

=1.2874