Horizontal Tank Wetted Area

What is this formula?

Horizontal Tank Wetted Area calculates the internal cylindrical surface area in contact with the liquid inside a partially filled horizontal tank.

The wetted area is widely used in heat transfer calculations, evaporation studies, mixing operations, coating calculations, and tank process design.

Unlike liquid volume calculations, wetted area focuses on the portion of the tank wall that is actually touching the liquid.

When to use it

Use this formula when determining:

- Heat transfer area

- Tank heating calculations

- Cooling calculations

- Evaporation analysis

- Mixing system design

- Surface coating requirements

Example

A horizontal tank has:

D = 2.0 m

L = 10.0 m

h = 0.80 m

Formula:

A = L × D × acos((D−2h)/D)

Substitution:

A = 10 × 2 × acos((2−1.6)/2)

A = 20 × acos(0.2)

Result:

A = 27.39 m²

Approximately 27.39 m² of the cylindrical wall is in contact with the liquid.

Applications

- Heat exchangers

- Storage tanks

- Process vessels

- Chemical reactors

- Food processing equipment

- Petroleum storage systems

Note

This formula calculates only the wetted cylindrical shell area. If the tank contains hemispherical, elliptical, torispherical, or other head geometries, the wetted area of the heads must be calculated separately and added to obtain the total wetted area.