

Abstract—this experiment is to examine the time domain

response of a single tank system and two tank system. Testing,
modeling, and simulating are the most important parts to find
the graphs where the input of both systems equal to zero. In
addition, finding the value of the resistance is mandatory to be
able to simulate.
I. INTRODUCTION
This experiment will explore the dynamic response of a
liquid level system and the difference in response between
first order systems and second order systems. All dynamic
systems, exhibit behavior caused by three types of
constitutive elements; resistance, inductance, and
capacitance.
Equation 1, is to find the head which is the height of the
water in a tank by using the pressure:
Where Qout is the nominal flow rate out of the tank, C1 is the
capacitance of the tank, Qin is the nominal flow rate into the
tank, R is the resistance of the valve, and s is the Laplace
variable.
From the previous equations, we calculated the area of tank
to be 0.0726 m2, the initial height of water is 0.495 m2.
For the second order system where the fluid is moving
from the first tank to the second tank we are going to use
equation 6, which describes the level change in the first tank.
Equation 7, which describes the level change in the second
tank.
𝑑ℎ1
𝑅𝐴1 = −ℎ1 + ℎ2 (6)
𝑑𝑡

𝑑ℎ2
P = ρgH (1) 𝑅𝐴2 = ℎ1 − ℎ2 (7)
𝑑𝑡

Where P is the pressure, g is the acceleration due to the
gravity, ρ is the density of the fluid, and H is the head.
Equation 2, is used for the flow across a restriction when
the flow is laminar:
Q = R(H1 − H2 )
W here A1 and A2 are the areas of the first and second
tank, h1 and h2 are the fluid levels of the first and second
tanks, and R is the resistance of the valves between the
tanks.
(2)

Where Q is the flow through the system, H1 is the head of the

system upstream of the restriction, H2 is the head
downstream of the system, and R is the resistance of the
restriction.
Equation 3, is used to find the inertia. The fluid inertance
is caused by the flow in long pipes.

𝐿
𝐼= (3)
𝐴(𝑝𝑖𝑝𝑒)∗𝑔

Where I is the fluid inertance, A(pipe) is the cross sectional

area of the pipe, L is the length of the pipe, and g is the
acceleration due to gravity. The inertance is neglected
because the pipes were short.
Equation 4, the capacitance in the fluid system is
dependent on the area of the tank in the system. For the tank
that has constant cross section:
.
𝑑ℎ
𝐴 = 𝑞1 − 𝑞2 (4)
𝑑𝑡

Where A is the cross sectional area of the tank equivalent to

capacitance, dh/dt is the differential height change in the
level of the fluid in the tank, q2 is the difference from the
nominal flow out of the tank, and q1 is the difference from
the nominal flow into the tank.
Equation 5, is the transfer function for the first order tank
system where the fluid is draining out of the tank:
𝑄𝑜𝑢𝑡 1
= (5)
𝑄𝑖𝑛 𝑅𝐶1𝑠+1