Cone-Bottom Tank Volume from Dipstick
The partial liquid volume of a vertical CONE-BOTTOM (conical / hopper bottom) tank.
Example
You enter
- Tank diameter D (ft) 6
- Cone (bottom) height (ft) 3
- Cylinder (straight side) height (ft) 8
- Liquid depth from the apex (ft) 6
You get
- Liquid volume 846.03
- Percent full 44.4%
Details, formula, and sources
From a dipstick depth measured up from the apex - a poly, process, or feed tank. Below the cone height the liquid fills a cone whose radius grows with height, so V = (pi R^2/(3 Hc^2)) h^3; above it, the full cone (1/3) pi R^2 Hc plus a straight cylinder pi R^2 (h - Hc). A 6 ft tank with a 3 ft cone and an 8 ft straight side holds 1,904 gallons full, but the cone empties as the CUBE of the depth - 1 ft up the tip is only 3.5 ft^3 (26 gal), an eighth of the full cone - so a low stick reads far less than a straight-side guess. Enter inside dimensions in feet. A right cone concentric with the cylinder, apex down; a flat-bottom tank is gauged separately, and the tank's own chart governs. Reported in cubic feet and US gallons with the percent full.
R = D/2; volume = (pi R^2/(3 Hc^2)) h^3 for h <= Hc, else (1/3) pi R^2 Hc + pi R^2 (h - Hc); full = (1/3) pi R^2 Hc + pi R^2 Hcyl.
Cone-bottom vertical tank partial gauging - a right cone from the apex plus a straight cylinder; standard solid geometry (cone + cylinder) as in Machinery's Handbook (Industrial Press), by name; public domain.
Public-domain solid geometry; the diameter, cone height, cylinder height, and depth are user-supplied.
Estimate. AHJ and licensed professional govern.
Field names used by the API: diameter_ft, cone_height_ft, cylinder_height_ft, depth_ft, volume_gal, percent_full
- Cone region V = (pi R^2/(3 Hc^2)) h^3, a right cone from the apex with r(h) = R h/Hcsolid geometry
- Cylinder region full cone + pi R^2 (h - Hc) above the cone heightsolid geometry
- Scope right cone concentric with the cylinder, apex down; a flat-bottom tank is the tank-volume tilescope of this tile