Michael Macon

9 December 2009

Draining Reservoirs

Introduction

An open reservoir is exposed to the environment and will allow for water to
evaporate from the open surface. The rate at which the volume of the reservoir
changes is proportional to the total surface area that is exposed. In this report, we
will look at the relationships between surface area, total volume and the depth of
the reservoir for two separate tanks. One tank will be a rectangular prism with a
constant surface area exposed. The second tank will be an inverted frustum of a
square pyramid. The tank takes the shape of an upside down pyramid whose top
has been removed. With the use of ODEs, we will model the volume of the tank
with respects to time.

Throughout this report, we will let h(t), S(t), and V(t) denote the depth,
surface area and volume, respectively, at time. We will always assume that the
rate of change of the water volume is proportional to the area of exposed water;
that is, V't=-αS(t), where α>0 is a constant. In all that follows, we will let α=0.05
meters/day.

First Tank

A reservoir has the shape of a rectangular prism with a horizontal cross-

sectional area of 200 square meters and a depth of 10 meters.

S(t) remains a constant 200 square meters. Knowing this, we find

V't=-10.

Integrating yields,
 Michael Macon
9 December 2009

Vt=-10t+C.

V(t) has the units meters cubed or m3. At t=0, the entire reservoir is full. Using the
general formula for the volume of a rectangular prism; V=S×h in which V, S and h
denote volume, surface area and height respectively; we find that the volume of the
reservoir is 2000 cubic meters. Substituting 2000 into the volume equation for V(0)
yields,

V0=2000=-100+C.

Finding,

C=2000.

Substituting in yields,

Vt=-10t+2000.

To find when the reservoir is completely drained, we must set V(t) to 0 and solve for
t. At that time, the volume of the tank is 0 and it is empty. Substituting in yields,

0=-10t+2000.

Thus,

t=200days.

Second Tank

The second tank is a inverted frustum of a pyramid with a square base. The
Horizontal cross-sections are always squares beginning with 225 square meters at
the top of the reservoir to 100 square meters at the bottom. The depth of the
reservoir is 10 meters.
 Michael Macon
9 December 2009

The volume of a square pyramid is V=13Ah, where A and h denote the area of the
base and the height of the triangle. To apply this formula to our tank, we must
extend the sides to form a complete pyramid.
 Michael Macon
9 December 2009

Using trigonometry, solving for θ yields

tanθ= 2.510.

Applying this ratio to the entire pyramid, we find

2.510=7.510+X.

Thus,

X=20.

The volume of the reservoir is the difference between the volume of the entire
pyramid and of the additional bottom section

Vtank=Vpyramid-Vbottom section

Substituting in the area of the base and the recently found height, we find that
 Michael Macon
9 December 2009

Vpyramid=1322520+h.

Substituting yields,

Vbottom section=1310020.

Thus,

Vtank=1322520+h-1310020.

At t=0, h=10. Applying these conditions yield

Vtank=1322530-1310020=Vo.

Thus,

Vo=1583.33.

Surface Area exposed

The length of each side of the exposed surface area is directly related to the
current depth of the reservoir. The length of the side can be split in half to see this
relationship better.
β

Letting l(h)denote the side length of the surface area, we find that

lh=25+β.

We must multiply it by two to account for only looking at one. Using trig we find the

tanθ=βh.

From earlier, we know that

 Michael Macon
9 December 2009

tanθ=14.

Solving for β yields,

β=h4.

Substituting this into l(h) yields,

lh=25+h4.

Thus,

lh=10+h2.

Therefore, at the top of the reservoir when h is 10m,

l10=15.

At the bottom of the reservoir when h is 0m,

l0=10.

The surface area of a square is equal to the length of the sides squared. Thus,

Sh=l(h)2.

Substituting in yields

Sh=10+h22.

Solving for the surface at the top of the reservoir yields

S10=225.

Solving for the surface area at the bottom of the reservoir yields

S0=100.

Volume to Depth Relationship

Shrepresents both the area of exposed water and the base of the hypothetical
pyramid. Substituting S(h) in for the area of the base in the equation we used to
solve for Vtank yields

Vtank=13Sh20+h-1310020.

Letting δ=1310020 and substituting in for S(h) yields

 Michael Macon
9 December 2009

Vtank=1310+h2220+h-δ.

Therefore when the tank is full (h=10),

Vtank=1583.33.

When the tank is empty (h=0),

Vtank=0.

Volume to Surface Area Relationship

We want to relate the volume of the tank to the surface area of the exposed water.
For simplicity, let V equal Vtank. With a little algebraic manipulation we find that

V+δ=1310+h2210+h22.

Manipulating yields,

32V+δ=10+h2210+h2.

Substituting in S yields

32V+δ=S×S.

Thus,

32V+δ=S32.

Solving yields

S=32V+δ23.

Rewriting yields,

S=3223(V+δ)23.

We can rewrite

3223=12234.

This is true because

12234×12131213=31213=3313×413=3223.

Therefore,

S=1412(V+δ)23.
 Michael Macon
9 December 2009

Substituting this into

V't=-αS(t)

And letting

α=3α1213

Yields,

V't=-α(V+δ)23.

Rewriting yields,

dV(V+δ)23=-αdt.

Integrating yields,

3(V+δ)13=-αt.

Solving for V yields,

V=-αt3+C3-δ.

Where C is a constant. Applying initial condition, Vo, and substituting values in for α
and δ yields,

Vo=-0.05t1213+C3-1310020.

Thus,

1583.33=C3-666.67.

Solving for C yields,

C≅13.10.

Therefore,

V=-0.05t1213+13.103-666.67.

Setting V=0, we find the time at which the reservoir becomes empty. Yielding,

0=-0.05t1213+13.103-666.67.

Thus,

8.74=-0.05t1213+13.10.

Solving yields,
 Michael Macon
9 December 2009

t≅199.83.

Therefore, the tank will be empty after 199.83 days.

References

Weinstein, Tessa. Personal Interview. 9 December 2009