Feature Report

Engineeering Practice

Accurate Wetted Areas

For Partially Filled Vessels 
N
Accurately determine
wetted surface areas 
N
needed for fire relief &YQPTFE
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N
applications
Figure 1.
Richard C. Doane Nomenclature The elevation of
S&B Engineers this horizontal 
N
S wetted surface area of the vessel, m2
and Constructors, Ltd. drum, partially 
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JO

R vessel inside radius, m filled with liquid,

T
his article introduces a simple places it within the
H maximum liquid depth, m
yet accurate way to calculate the fire zone. To calcu-
F fractional liquid level = H / (2 · R), late the relief area,
wetted surface area of a partially — it is necessary
filled horizontal vessel with to know the total
semi-elliptical heads. This informa- eccentricity of the elliptical vessel wetted area of the
head = 0.866 for the common case drum
tion is often needed for the sizing of
of a 2:1 ellipse, —
relief devices.
API Recommended Practice 521 L tangent-to-tangent length of the cylin-
specifies that a vessel containing liq- drical section of the vessel, m
uid, mounted such that its lowest
point is less than 7.62 m (25 ft) above
ground level, must be fitted with a cal head is more challenging. Experi- liptical head is given by Equation (1),
pressure-relief device to protect it ence has shown that many engineer- below. Figure 1 shows a typical vessel
against an external fire. The vent area ing firms use inaccurate curve-fitting with 2:1 elliptical heads, 6.62 m (21 ft
needed for fire relief must always be techniques or conservative approxi- 9 in.) above grade level. Since the
calculated, even if this turns out not mations for this type of head. An exact elevation is below 7.6 m, the vessel
to be the limiting case. mathematical relationship would be requires fire relief under API Recom-
The relieving load calculation re- simpler and more accurate, yet the mended Practice 521. Since the eleva-
quires the engineer to know the author was unable to find a published tion is above 4.8 m, we need to calcu-
wetted surface area that would be formula. late the wetted area rather than the
exposed to the fire. If the vessel’s el- A solution was therefore developed total surface area. In this case:
evation and diameter are such that from first principles, and is presented R = 1.5 m
the entire vessel is not within the 25- below. The formulas for the partially H = 1 m
ft vertical fire zone, a partial surface filled hemispherical head and the F = H / (2 · R) = 1 m / (2 · 1.5 m) = 0.3333
area calculation is needed. partially filled cylinder, found in the = 0.866 for a 2:1 ellipse
For the cylindrical portion of the above references, are also included for From Equation (1), S = 3.64 m2
drum, the wetted area can easily completeness. If the head is completely filled (F =
be determined using mensuration 1), Equation 1 reduces to the formula
formulas found in sources such as Elliptical head given in the C.R.C. tables [2] for the
the “C.R.C. Standard Mathemati- The wetted surface area of a single el- surface area of half an oblate sphe-
cal Tables” [1]. The wetted
surface area for a partially Equation 1
filled hemispherical head is   2 
presented in “Machinery’s π ⋅ R2  1  4ε ⋅ ( F − 0.5) + 1 + 12 ⋅ ( F − 0.5) 
( F − 0.5) ⋅ 1 + 12 ⋅ ( F − 0.5) + 1 +
2
Handbook” [3]. S= ⋅ ln  
2  4ε  2− 3 
Finding the wetted area   
of a partially filled ellipti-
56 Chemical Engineering www.che.com December 2007

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 CPD-5 8/20/07 10:34 AM Page 1

The best way to heat and cool

the most corrosive materials.
roid. For the vessel in Figure 1, the
total area of each head is 9.76 m2.

Hemispherical head
For comparison, the wetted surface
area of a hemispherical head is given
by the concise relationship:
S = π ⋅ R⋅ H 
For the vessel shown in Figure 1,
the wetted area with hemispherical
heads is:
S = π ⋅ 1.5m ⋅ 1m = 4.71m 2
When the head is completely full,
the formula reduces to the familiar:
S = 2 ⋅ π ⋅ R2 = 2 ⋅ π ⋅ (1.5m ) = 14.1m 2
2
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The wetted surface of the cylindrical call (302) 456-4431 or visit:
part of the vessel is found from: www.ametekfpp.com
R− H
S = 2 ⋅ L ⋅ R ⋅ cos−1  
 R  (3)
where all angles are measured in ra- Circle 26 on p. 74 or go to adlinks.che.com/6902-26
dians.
For the cylindrical section of the
vessel in Figure 1, the wetted surface
area is:
 1.5m − 1m 
S = 2 ⋅ 6m ⋅ 1.5m ⋅ cos−1  
 1.5m 
= 22.1m 2
If the cylinder is completely filled
with liquid, H is equal to 2R, and
Advertise in the
Equation (3) reduces to the familiar:
S = 2 ⋅ π ⋅ L ⋅ R = 2 ⋅ π ⋅ 6m ⋅ 1.5m
Classified
= 56.6m
2
■
Edited by Charles Butcher
Interested?
References For more information on classified
1. “C.R.C. Standard Mathematical Tables, 12th.
Edition,” p. 398, Chemical Rubber Publish-
advertising, please contact:
ing Co., Cleveland, Ohio, 1959.
2. Ibid., p. 401. Helene Hicks
Tel: 212.621.4958
3. “Machinery’s Handbook,” 17th. Edition,
p. 160, Industrial Press, New York, 1964.
Author
Richard C. Doane is a senior
process engineer with S&B
Fax: 212.621.4976
Engineers and Constructors,
Ltd. (7825 Park Place Bou-
levard, Houston, TX 77087;
email: hhicks@che.com
Phone: 713-845-5338; Email:
rcdoane@sbec.com). He has
35 years of experience in pro-
cess engineering and plant
operations. Doane holds B.S.
and M.S. degrees in chemical
engineering from Northeast-
C L A S S I F I E D A D V E R T I S I N G T H AT W O R K S
ern University and an M.S. degree in accounting
from the University of Houston, Clear Lake. He
is a professional engineer in the state of Texas.
Chemical Engineering www.che.com December 2007 57

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