Approximate Time to Empty out a Vessel having no dished ends (Newtonian Liquid)

(Cylindrical Vessel and Sphere)

Reference: Section 5, Chemical & Process Plant Engineering
Standard Handbook of Engineering Calculations, 4th Edition, Tyler G. Hicks
Verical Cylinder Horizontal Cylinder Sphere
Vertical Cylinder
where:
t = time to empty in seconds
D = diameter of the cylinder, ft
h = height of liquid in the cylinder, ft
C
d
= Discharge coefficient
0.61 for sharp-edged orifice
0.8 for short flush mounted nozzle
0.98 for rounded orifice
A
n
= Cross-sectional area of drain opening (orifice / nozzle) based on ID of orifice / nozzle, ft
2
Horizontal Cylinder
where:
t = time to empty in seconds
L = Length of the cylinder, ft
D = diameter of the cylinder, ft
h = height of liquid in the cylinder, ft
h
D
D
h D
h
L
n d
A C
h D
t

05 . 16
2

n d
A C
h D D L
t

5 . 1 5 . 1
) ( 166 . 0
C
d
= Discharge coefficient
0.61 for sharp-edged orifice
0.8 for short flush mounted nozzle
0.98 for rounded orifice
A
n
= Cross-sectional area of drain opening (orifice / nozzle) based on ID of orifice / nozzle, ft
2
Sphere
where:
t = time to empty in seconds
D = diameter of the sphere, ft
h = height of liquid in the sphere, ft
C
d
= Discharge coefficient
0.61 for sharp-edged orifice
0.8 for short flush mounted nozzle
0.98 for rounded orifice
A
n
= Cross-sectional area of drain opening (orifice / nozzle) based on ID of orifice / nozzle, ft
2
Example Calculation for Sphere
Inputs
D = 10 ft
h = 8 ft
Nominal Size = 2 inch (Drain nozzle)
Schd = XXS
d = 1.5 inch (ID of drain nozzle)
C
d
= 0.8
Calculations
A
n
= 0.012272
ft
2
t = 3125 s
52.1 min
Prepared by: Ankur Srivastava
Chemical Engineer
email: ankur_2061@hotmail.com

n d
A C
h D h
t

6 . 0 083 . 0
5 . 1