VOLUMENES

Ellipsoid with semiaxes a, b, & c (c & h collinear)

abh 2 h
V = 1 0 h 2c
c 3c

achK
3 0b<a

ach
V = b=a
6
ach ( K )
a < b 2a
3

1
K cos 1 M + M 3 cosh 1 2M 1 M 2
M
ab
M
a
Base an ellipse with semiaxes a & c
Volume slice parallel to h (a & b collinear)
Use radian mode in all equations

Use radian mode in all equations

0 b 2R
h2 + R 2
r = h = r r 2 R2
2h
w Rb

y 2Rb b 2

z r 2 R2
Volume slice parallel to h (b & R collinear)

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 3 2 2 2 3
r cos1 R rw + cos1 R + rw z 2 + R cos1 w wr 2 w tan1 y + 2wyz
3 R (w r ) R (w + r ) r r R 3 z 3



V = or


R

( )
r 2 x 2 cos1
r 2 R2
2
r x 2
dx
r 2 R2 2
2 R cos

1 R b
R

(R b ) 2Rb b 2

R b

Computing Fluid Tank Volumes II

By Dan Jones, Ph.D., P.E.

T
his article presents formulas for computing (1) fluid volumes in partially-filled, vertical, cylindrical
tanks with concave bottoms and (2) fluid volumes in vertical tanks with identical top and bottom
closed heads to supplement formulas previously published for computing fluid volumes in partially-
filled horizontal and vertical cylindrical tanks1.

Fluid volumes in vertical, cylindrical tanks with concave bottoms

All nomenclature in this article is identical to that of the earlier article on computing fluid volumes of
partially-filled tanks. For open-top, vertical tanks, Figures 1 and 2 describe the possible bottom
configurations. Figure 1 shows the parameters for conical, ellipsoidal, and spherical concave bottoms.

Figure 1. Vertical, Cylindrical Tanks with Conical, Ellipsoidal, or Spherical Concave Bottoms.

Page 2 of 13
The ellipsoidal bottom must be exactly half of an ellipsoid of revolution. For a concave, spherical bottom
the bottom cannot protrude upward into the cylindrical portion of the tank a distance greater than the
radius of the cylindrical portion of the tank. In the equations for vertical, cylindrical tanks with concave
bottoms in this article the value for a must always be a negative number (or zero, in the case of a flat-
bottom tank), i.e., a 0.

Figure 2. shows the parameters for cylindrical, vertical tanks with concave, torispherical bottoms. For
torispherical-bottom tanks, the dish parameter, f, must be greater than 0.5, i.e., f > 0.5, and the knuckle
parameter, k, must be greater than or equal to zero but less than or equal to 0.5, i.e., 0 k 0.5. The
parameter a is not an input parameter for a torispherical bottom; it can be calculated from a = -(a1 + a2).

Figure 2. Vertical, Cylindrical Tanks with Torispherical Concave Bottoms.

The equations for fluid volumes in vertical, cylindrical tanks with concave bottoms are shown in the
sidebar. The volume of a flat-bottom, vertical, cylindrical tank may be found using the equations for
conical, ellipsoidal, or spherical-bottom tanks with a = 0.

The following examples will serve to check correct application of the equations. Calculate the volumes in
gallons of the following cylindrical tanks with concave conical, ellipsoidal, spherical, and torispherical

Page 3 of 13
bottoms for D = 113 and a= -33 (except for a torispherical bottom where f = 0.71 and k = 0.081) for fluid
heights of 15, 25, and 50.

Answer:
h Conical Ellipsoidal Spherical Torispherical

15 251.158 44.850 112.814 103.886

25 614.607 207.637 341.706 388.721
50 1,693.165 1,215.606 1,372.929 1,468.762

For the torispherical case, the calculated a = -(a1 + a2) = -27.219.

Otros calculos

1. Partial volume of a cylinder

Volume = Ri2 L ( - sin ) / 2
L = length of cylinder
Ri = inside radius of cylinder
= angle from the center of cylinder to both edge points of liquid
(radian)

2. Partial volume of a vertical hemispherical head

Volume = y2 (3Ri - y) / 3
D = inside diameter of cylinder = 2Ri

3. Partial volume of a horizontal hemispherical head

Volume = y2 (3Ri - y) / 6

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4. Partial volume of spherically dished horizontal heads
Volume = | [{(2-yi2)3} - {(2-Ri2)3} ] / 3 - L(Ri2-yi2) / 2 |
= inside dish radius
y = height of liquid
L=-IDD
IDD: inside depth of dish

5. Partial volume of spherically dished vertical heads

Volume = y (3x2+y2) / 6 = y2 (3-y) / 3

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6. Partial volume of horizontal elliptical heads
Volume = IDD /(3Ri) {(Ri2 - yi2)}3

7. Partial volume of vertical elliptical heads

Volume of = Ri2 [yi-yi3/(3 IDD2)]
Volume of = 2 IDD Ri2/3 - Ri2 [yi-yi3/(3 IDD2)]

8. Partial volume of vertical torispherical heads

knuckle-cylinder partial volume = y (ro2 + 4rm2 + ri2) / 6
partial volume of the dish region of a vertical head = y (3x2+y2)/6
Page 6 of 13
9. Partial volume of horizontal torispherical heads
Volume of = | [{(2-yi2)3} - {(2-Ri2)3}]/3 - L(Ri2-yi2)/2 |
Volume of = [4KR/(3) + (Ri-KR)+ (Ri-KR)2]
KR = knuckle radius
L=-IDD
yd=IDD-KR

Page 7 of 13
Other sites on tank volume calculation

Page 8 of 13
Vertical Tanks with Concave (a < 0) or Flat (a = 0) Bottoms

Conical, concave (a < 0) or flat (a = 0) bottom:

3h + a (a + h) KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK
3

D2 0h< a

V= a2
12
(3h + a) KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK h a

Ellipsoidal, concave (a < 0) or flat (a = 0) bottom:

3h + 2a (a + h) (2a h) KKKKKKKKK KKKKK 0 h < a

2

D2
V= a2
12

(3h + 2a) KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK h a

Spherical, concave (a < 0) or flat (a = 0) bottom:

2
( ) + (a + h) 4 3D2a(a+ 12
2 2
a 3 a
3D h + 3D 2 + 4a 2 KK K K 0h< a
2 + h)

V=
12

2 a 2
3D h + 2 3D + 4a(2
) K K K KK K K K K K K KK K K K h a

Torispherical, concave bottom:

v 1 (h = a 1 + a 2 h) KK 0 h < a2
D 2h v (h = a 1 + a 2 ) LL k 0
V= 1 +
v 2 (h = a 1 + a 2 h) KK a 2 h < a1 + a 2
4 v 2 (h = a 1 + a 2 ) LL k = 0 0 K K K K K K KK K h a1 + a 2

where:

2a 13 a 1D12 2 2 3
v1 = + + u D kD + s + tu u
4 3 2
2 2 3

2u t t s k 2D 2 t 2u
+ D(1 2k ) s + tu u 2 + + cos 1
4 4 2 2kD
h 2 D2 4h
v2 = 2a 1 + 1
4 2a 1 3

1 2k 4f 2 8fk + 4k 1
sin 1 = cos 1
2(f k ) 2(f k )

a 1 fD(1 cos ) D1 2fD sin t 2kD cos = 2a 2

s (kD sin ) u h fD(1 cos )
2
a 2 kD cos

Page 9 of 13
Fluid volumes of vertical, elliptical tanks with any of the concave bottoms covered in this article may be
calculated using the method described earlier for correcting cylindrical volumes to elliptical volumes.

Fluid volumes in closed-head vertical, cylindrical tanks

Calculation of fluid volumes in closed-head, vertical, cylindrical tanks is achieved by using the
formulas presented earlier for convex-bottoms and in this article for concave-bottoms using the
following procedure: When the fluid height in the closed-head vertical tank is below any portion of the
top head, use the formulas for open head tanks. When the fluid height is anywhere within the top
head, compute the total tank volume by doubling the value computed using the open-head vertical
tank formulas with a fluid height equal to half the total tank height and subtracting from that value the
air space volume computed using the open-head, vertical tank formulas with h = air space height.

Figure 3 shows a diagram of closed-head, vertical, cylindrical tanks with applicable parameters.

Figure 3. Parameters for closed-head, vertical, cylindrical tanks.

For illustrative purposes, Figure 3 shows only convex and concave ellipsoidal heads, although the
heads may be conical, ellipsoidal, spherical, or torispherical. In the case of torispherical heads, a = a1
+ a2 for convex heads and a = -(a1 + a2) for concave heads. Figure 3 shows h(v) = fluid height in a
convex-bottom tank and h(c) = fluid height in a concave-bottom tank, but in the fluid volume equations
for these tanks only h is used for fluid height and the user must make correct association to the tank
bottom configuration under consideration.

The equations for calculating the volumes of closed-head, vertical, cylindrical tanks where the top and
bottom heads are identical in type and concavity are:

Convex, closed-head, vertical tanks

 V openhead LLL LLLLLL LLL LLLLL LL hL+a

Vclosedhead = L
2Vopenhead h = + a Vopenhead (h = L + 2a h) LL L + a < h L + 2a
2

Concave, closed-head, vertical tanks

V openhead LLL LLLLLL LLL LLLLL LLL h L + a (a < 0)

Vclosedhead = L
2Vopenhead h = Vopenhead(h = L h) LLL LL LL h > L + a (a < 0)
2

Vopen-head is the volume calculated by the usual formulas for open-head vertical tanks provided earlier in
this article for concave-bottom tanks and in the previous article for convex-bottom tanks.

If the top and bottom heads of closed-head, vertical, cylindrical tanks differ, in type or in concavity, the
same technique described above can be used to compute the fluid volume for any fluid level within the
tank, but careful manipulation of the formulas will need to be made to account correctly for the
difference in head types.

To compute the fluid volume in closed-head, vertical, elliptical tanks the same formulas presented in
the earlier article can be used to correct the volumes calculated for closed-head, vertical, cylindrical
tanks calculated using the above formulas for closed-head vertical cylindrical tanks.

For calculating fluid volumes in closed-head vertical tanks, the following examples will serve to check
application of the principles and equations above and with use of equations from the earlier tank
volume article. In all cases L = 120, D = 113, a = 33 for convex heads, a = -33 for concave heads, f
= 0.71 and k = 0.081 for torispherical heads, and all fluid heights will be high enough to be within the
top heads of the tanks. Tank details are as indicated in the table, where v = convex and c = concave:

h Top head Bottom head V(Gal)

160 toris-v toris-v 6,399.876

110 toris-c toris-c 3,773.275
130 toris-v conic-c 5,133.786
110 spher-c ellip-c 3,408.952

1
Computing Fluid Tank Volumes, Chemical Processing, 65, No. 11, November 2002, pp. 46-50.

Dan Jones is a retired senior process chemist from Stockhausen Louisiana, LLC, Garyville, LA.
Contact him at Dr2Jones@bellsouth.net or (225)756-9054.

Error! Slo el documento principal.Calculating

Tank Volume
Saving time, increasing accuracy

By Dan Jones, Ph.D., P.E.

C
alculating fluid volume in a horizontal or vertical cylindrical or elliptical tank can be complicated,
depending on fluid height and the shape of the heads (ends) of a horizontal tank or the bottom of a
vertical tank. Exact equations now are available for several commonly encountered tank shapes.
These equations can be used to make rapid and accurate fluid-volume calculations. All equations are
rigorous, but computational difficulties will arise in certain limiting configurations.

All volume equations give fluid volumes in cubic units from tank dimensions in consistent linear units.
All variables defining tank shapes required for tank volume calculations are defined in the Variables
and Definitions sidebar. Graphically, Figs. 1 and 2 show horizontal tank variables and Figs. 3 and 4
show vertical tank variables.

Exact fluid volumes in elliptical horizontal or vertical tanks can be found by first calculating the fluid
volumes of appropriate cylindrical horizontal or vertical tanks using the equations described above,
and then by adjusting those results using appropriate correction formulas.

Horizontal Cylindrical Tanks

Fluid volume as a function of fluid height can be calculated for a horizontal cylindrical tank with either
conical, ellipsoidal, guppy, spherical, or torispherical heads where the fluid height, h, is measured from
the tank bottom to the fluid surface, see Figs. 1 and 2. A guppy head is a conical head where the
apex of the conical head is level with the top of the cylindrical section of the tank as shown in Fig. 1. A
torispherical head is an ASME-type head defined by a knuckle-radius parameter, k, and a dish-radius
parameter, f, as shown in Fig. 2.

An ellipsoidal head must be exactly half of an ellipsoid of revolution; only a hemiellipsoid is valid no
segment of an ellipsoid will work as is true in the case of a spherical head where the head may be a
spherical segment. For a spherical head, |a| R, where R is the radius of the cylindrical tank body.
Where concave conical, ellipsoidal, guppy, spherical, or torispherical heads are considered, then |a|
L/2.

Both heads of a horizontal cylindrical tank must be identical for the equations to work; i.e., if one head
is conical, the other must be conical with the same dimensions. However, the equations can be
combined to deal with fluid volume calculations of horizontal tanks with heads of different shapes. For
instance, if a horizontal cylindrical tank has a conical head on one end and an ellipsoidal head on the
other end, calculate fluid volumes of two tanks, one with conical heads and the other with ellipsoidal
heads, and average the results to get the desired fluid volume. The heads of a horizontal tank may be
flat (a = 0), convex (a > 0), or concave (a < 0).

The following variables must be within the ranges stated:

|a| R for spherical heads

|a| L/2 for concave ends
0 h 2R for all tanks
f > 0.5 for torispherical heads
0 k 0.5 for torispherical heads
D>0
L0

Variables and Definitions (See Figs. 1-5)

a is the distance a horizontal tank's heads extend beyond (a > 0) or into (a < 0) its cylindrical section
or the depth the bottom extends below the cylindrical section of a vertical tank. For a horizontal tank
with flat heads or a vertical tank with a flat bottom a = 0.

Af is the cross-sectional area of the fluid in a horizontal tank's cylindrical section.

D is the diameter of the cylindrical section of a horizontal or vertical tank.

DH, DW are the height and width, respectively, of the ellipse defining the cross section of the body of a
horizontal elliptical tank.

DA, DB are the major and minor axes, respectively, of the ellipse defining the cross section of the body
of a vertical elliptical tank.

f is the dish-radius parameter for tanks with torispherical heads or bottoms; fD is the dish radius.

h is the height of fluid in a tank measured from the lowest part of the tank to the fluid surface.

k is the knuckle-radius parameter for tanks with torispherical heads or bottoms; kD is the knuckle
radius.

L is the length of the cylindrical section of a horizontal tank.

R is the radius of the cylindrical section of a horizontal or vertical tank.

r is the radius of a spherical head for a horizontal tank or a spherical bottom of a vertical tank.

Vf is the fluid volume, of fluid depth h, in a horizontal or vertical cylindrical tank.