Measure Oil Tank Capacity

[Home]   [Puzzles & Projects]    [Delphi Techniques]   [Math topics]   [Library]   [Utilities]

 

 

Search

Search WWW

Search DelphiForFun.org

As of October, 2016, Embarcadero is offering a free release of Delphi (Delphi 10.1 Berlin Starter Edition ).     There are a few restrictions, but it is a welcome step toward making more programmers aware of the joys of Delphi.  They do say "Offer may be withdrawn at any time", so don't delay if you want to check it out.  Please use the feedback link to let me know if the link stops working.

 

Support DFF - Shop

 If you shop at Amazon anyway,  consider using this link. 

     

We receive a few cents from each purchase.  Thanks

 


Support DFF - Donate

 If you benefit from the website,  in terms of knowledge, entertainment value, or something otherwise useful, consider making a donation via PayPal  to help defray the costs.  (No PayPal account necessary to donate via credit card.)  Transaction is secure.

Mensa® Daily Puzzlers

For over 15 years Mensa Page-A-Day calendars have provided several puzzles a year for my programming pleasure.  Coding "solvers" is most fun, but many programs also allow user solving, convenient for "fill in the blanks" type.  Below are Amazon  links to the two most recent years.

Mensa® 365 Puzzlers  Calendar 2017

Mensa® 365 Puzzlers Calendar 2018

(Hint: If you can wait, current year calendars are usually on sale in January.)

Contact

Feedback:  Send an e-mail with your comments about this program (or anything else).

Search DelphiForFun.org only

 

 

 

Problem Description

This program will display a table of current liquid volume in gallons for several standard sized fuel oil tanks based on measured depth of remaining liquid.

Background & Techniques

There are many online tables listing gallons of liquid remaining in specific sized tanks based on measured liquid depth.  Most all of them appear to be copied from the same source (or from copies of the copies). Several anomalies appear in every version I have found. For example the 330 gallon tank reports 330 gallons when the 44 inch dimension is vertical, but 322 gallons when laid on its side, i.e. with the 44" dimension horizontal. Not that it is very significant, just unexplained.

This program reports 325 gallons in either orientation. I did make slight adjustments to the dimensions for all tank sizes largely to approximately match the numbers published in the online charts. The 275 gallon tank for example, which has nominal dimensions of 44"x27"x60",  uses 44.6" x 27.1" x 60.7" dimensions during calculations.

All-in-all, writing the code was an interesting programming and math refresher exercise.

Non-programmers are welcome to read on, but may want to skip to the bottom of this page to download executable version of the program.

Notes for Programmers

275/330 Vert. 275/330 Horiz. 500/550/1000 Cyl.

There are two basic tank shapes to handle; The "racetrack" shape of the 275 and 330 gallon tanks has flat sides connected by 27" diameter semi-circles for top and bottom profiles.  Think of them as 27" diameter cylinders split with a 27" x 17" rectangular solid joining the two halves. The nominal length for the 275 gallon tank is 60" and 72" for the 330 gallon version.  The second shapes are cylindrical solids in 500, 550, and 1000 gallon sizes all 48" in diameter and varying only in length (65", 72", and 130").   The two smaller oval  tanks can be oriented vertically  44" high and 27" wide, or lying flat with 27" height and 44" width.

The tricky math bit is determining the area of the circular segment formed by the bottom of the tank and liquid level when the depth is less than the radius of the circle (13.5" or 24").  That area times the tank length gives us the volume of the liquid in cubic inches.  There are exactly 231 cubic inches in a gallon so we now know the volume for any depth in contact with the circular sides.  The liquid in contact with the flat sides is calculated as Height x Width x Length. 

Program procedure FillGrid  loops through all possible depths from 1 to tank height by 1 inch increments.  For each depth, procedure    GetCylidricalVolume is called to get volume for depths in the curved portion of the tank and GetRectVolume is called to get volume for the portion which is in the rectangular portion.   For depths less than the tank radius, GetCylindricalVolume works for either shape and either orientation. For the oval tanks, GetRectVolume for the submerged rectangular portion (if any) is added.  For the vertical oval tank or the cylindrical tank when liquid is deep enough to reach into the top cylindrical part, I add the total upper cylindrical volume and then use GetCylindricalVolume to calculate the  air space above the liquid and subtract that amount.  Simple JPG images are displayed with each chart selected to show the type of tank being evaluated.   

February 20:, 2014:  A viewer wrote asking for size charts for two additional size variations for 275 gallon tanks (42x26x65, and 44x23x72).   While adding these sizes to make Version 2.1.  I decided that, rather than adjusting dimensions to produce the desired total volume, I would report the "Actual" gallons remaining based on dimensions given and provide a second "Nominal" column with those results scaled to make the total reported match the nominal tank capacity. 

March 6, 2014:  Before leaving "Oil Tank" to rest in peace, I decided to create Version 2.2 to allow users (and me) to define custom sizes.  (The first tank in the list now uses fractional inch measurements for my tractor diesel fuel tank and actual now matches nominal volumes within a gallon for any depth.)  From there it was only a small step to allow existing tank definitions to be edited or deleted.  I also added the ability to print the capacity charts.  Most will require 2 pages to print the entire list.  They could be printed as two columns on a single page, but I'm ready to move on and return later to finish the job. So it's "cut and paste" for now to get a one page chart.  

 Running/Exploring the Program 

bullet Download source
bullet Download  executable

Suggestions for Further Explorations

bullet I would like to locate the program which produces the original of the tables that appear online and investigate why our tables differ slightly.  I have tried truncating or rounding fractional gallons, and adjusting dimensions by fractional inches but never found the combination that would produce an exact match across the entire range on depth measurements..
bullet Two column chart printing would complete charts to fit on a single page. 

 

Original Date: October 25, 2010 

Modified: May 15, 2018

 

  [Feedback]   [Newsletters (subscribe/view)] [About me]
Copyright © 2000-2018, Gary Darby    All rights reserved.