Orifice Drain Time — Equation Derivation

>> ፍርሃትህን በር ላይ ትተህ ግባ; ፍቅር እዚህ ይነገራል። ሁሉንም ነገር አታበላሽም። ነፃ HawsEDC AutoCAD መሣሪያዎችን ደግሞ ተጠቀም። <<

Back to Orifice Drain Time Calculator

We want the time required for a truncated cone-shaped tank or pond to drain through a circular orifice at the bottom. The tank is described only by the area at the top, the area at the orifice, and the initial height. We will use a volume balance together with the orifice flow law, then integrate from the full height down to zero.

Assumptions

Derivation

Define the symbols as follows:

Because the pond sides are straight, the radius (conic section assumption) changes linearly with height. Since area is proportional to radius squared, the square root of the area also changes linearly with height. That is the geometric fact that makes the derivation tractable, and it gives the interpolation formula:

(1) A(h) = A0 + ( A1 - A0 ) hH1

Squaring both sides of Eq. (1) gives the area at height h. Eq. (3) will expand this into a polynomial form suitable for integration term by term.

(2) A (h) = [ A0 + ( A1 - A0 ) hH1 ] 2

Expanding the square in Eq. (2) separates A(h) into three terms, each a different power of h. This expanded form will simplify the integration later.

(3) A(h) = A0 + 2 A0 ( A1 - A0 ) hH1 + ( A1 - A0 ) 2 h2 H12

Next we use conservation of volume. A thin slice of liquid of thickness dh at height h has volume equal to area times thickness. This is the standard slice approximation behind calculus volume formulas.

(4) dV = A (h) dh

The outflow through the orifice is given by the orifice equation. Since the head driving the flow is the current height h, the flow rate is

(5) Q = Cd aor 2 g h

The basic volume balance is that the rate of decrease of tank or pond volume equals the outflow rate. In differential form, we write the time element as volume change divided by flow rate.

(6) dt = dVQ

Substitute Eq. (4) into Eq. (6). This simply replaces the thin-slice volume with area times thickness.

(7) dt = A(h)dh Q

Now substitute the orifice law from Eq. (5) into Eq. (7). Since Q depends on h, it must be part of the integral rather than being treated as a constant.

(8) dt = A(h)dh Cd aor 2gh

The total drain time is found by integrating the running variable h from the empty height h = 0 to the initial height h = H1. In other words, we accumulate the tiny time pieces from the start of drainage to the end.

(9) t = 0 H1 dt

Substituting Eq. (8) into Eq. (9) yields the integral form for the drain time.

(10) t = 1 Cd aor 2g 0 H1 A(h) h dh

Now substitute the area formula from Eq. (3) into Eq. (10). This gives an explicit integrand written entirely in terms of the known endpoint areas and the variable height.

(11) t = 1 Cd aor 2g 0 H1 A0 + 2 A0 ( A1 - A0 ) h H1 + ( A1 - A0 ) 2 h2 H12 h dh

Dividing each of the three terms in the expanded numerator of Eq. (11) by √h and writing the square-root factors as fractional exponents makes the power-law structure explicit and prepares each term for direct application of the power rule:

(12) t = 1 Cd aor 2g 0 H1 ( A0 h-12 + 2 A0 (A1-A0) h12 H1 + (A1-A0) 2 h32 H12 ) dh

Integrating term by term uses the standard power rules:

Applying these rules to each term and writing the antiderivative evaluated from h = 0 to h = H₁:

(13) t = 1 Cd aor 2g [ 2A0 h12 + 4 A0 (A1-A0) h32 3H1 + 2 (A1-A0) 2 h52 5H12 ] h=0 h=H1

Since every term contains a positive power of h, evaluating at the lower limit h = 0 contributes nothing. Evaluating at h = H₁ directly substitutes H₁ for h in each term:

(14) t = 1 Cd aor 2g ( 2A0 H112 + 4 A0 (A1-A0) H132 3H1 + 2 (A1-A0) 2 H152 5H12 )

Simplifying: H₁1/2 = √H₁, H₁3/2/H₁ = √H₁, and H₁5/2/H₁2 = √H₁:

(15) t = 1 Cd aor 2g ( 2A0H1 + 43 A0 (A1-A0) H1 + 25 (A1-A0) 2 H1 )

Factoring out √H₁ gives

(16) t = H1 Cd aor 2g ( 2A0 + 43 A0 (A1-A0) + 25 (A1-A0) 2 )

Expanding the bracket term by term:

(17) t = H1 Cd aor 2g ( 2A0 + 43 A0A1 - 43 A0 + 25 A1 - 45 A0A1 + 25 A0 )

Collecting like terms:

(18) t = H1 Cd aor 2g ( 25A1 + 815 A0A1 + 1615A0 )

Therefore the final spreadsheet formula is

=SQRT(H1)/(Cd*aor*SQRT(2*g))*((2/5)*A1 + (8/15)*SQRT(A0*A1) + (16/15)*A0)

In summary, the derivation works by combining three ideas: Eq. (1) gives the geometry of the truncated cone, Eq. (4) gives the small volume slice, and Eq. (5) gives the discharge through the orifice. Those are substituted into the volume balance, assembled into the integral in Eq. (9), and evaluated in Eq. (10) through Eq. (13). The result is the closed-form expression in Eq. (18).

እባክህ ሃሳብህን ወይም ምስጋናህን ስጠን። ይህ ነፃ ካልኩሌተር በሁሉም ረገድ ከምትጠብቀው በላይ ሆኗል? [ይህን መስመር ደብቅ]

Home | AutoCAD Tools | FreeSoftware | Engineering Services | Engineering Calculators | Technical Documents | Blog (new in 2009) | Personal essays | Collaborative Family Trees | Contact