Unit Operations Lab 3-Tank Experiment

Three-Tank Experiment
Overview
The three-tank experiment focuses on application of the mechanical balance equation to a
transient flow. Three tanks are interconnected by Schedule 40 pipes of nominal diameter 3/4"
leading from the bottom of each tank to the other two tanks (see Figure 1). Two of the tanks are
identical and have the diameter of 11". The diameter of the third tank is 13". The tanks will be
filled with water to different heights, which will drive flow of water between the tanks. The
purpose of this experiment is to investigate time dependence of water levels in the tanks as the
system reaches equilibrium. The experimental observations should be compared with theoretical
predictions which will be obtained by solving a system of nonlinear differential equations.
Therefore, students should review numerical methods (e.g., Euler, Runge-Kutta) for integration
of differential equations.

Figure 1. Three-tank system.

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Unit Operations Lab 3-Tank Experiment

Theory
The governing equations in this experiment are obtained from applying force and mass
balances on the fluid flow between tanks. Mass balance for the flow of water leaving one of the
i-th tanks is:
𝑑ℎ𝑖 𝑄𝑖
= , (1)
𝑑𝑡 𝐴𝑖
where hi is the level of water in the i-th tank, Qi is the flow rate of water leaving or entering the i-
th tank, and Ai is the cross-sectional area of the i-th tank.
A more useful relationship can be obtained by rewriting the flow rate in terms of the
average fluid velocity vi of water in the pipe leading to the i-th tank,
𝑑ℎ𝑖 𝐴𝑝
= 𝑣, (2)
𝑑𝑡 𝐴𝑖 𝑖
where Ap is the pipe area.
To obtain the average velocity, we need to apply the mechanical balance to the pipe
system. For simplicity, let us first perform this analysis for a 2-tank system shown in Figure 2.
After that, we will extend the analysis to the 3-tank system.

Figure 2. Schematics of the two-tank system.

Two-Tank System
The mechanical balance between points 1 and 2 of the 2-tank system is
𝑃1 − 𝑃2 1 2
= 𝐾12 𝑣12 , (3)
𝜌 2
where 𝐾12 is the friction coefficient of the pipe connecting the two tanks, v12 is the fluid velocity
in this pipe, Pi is the hydrostatic pressure at the bottom of the i-th tank (i = 1, 2), and ρ is the
water density. The hydrostatic pressure difference is
𝑃1 − 𝑃2 = 𝜌𝑔(ℎ1 − ℎ2 ) (4)
Substituting this into Eq. (3) and solving for v12 we get:

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Unit Operations Lab 3-Tank Experiment

2𝑔(ℎ1 − ℎ2 )
𝑣12 = √ . (5)
𝐾12

This equation assumes that h1 ≥ h2. Note that if the h1 < h2, Eq. (5) will yield an imaginary
number for v12, whereas physically it should be a negative value. To account for this, Eq. (5)
should be rewritten as follows:

2𝑔|ℎ𝑖 − ℎ𝑗 |
𝑣𝑖𝑗 = 𝑆𝑖𝑔𝑛(ℎ𝑖 − ℎ𝑗 )√ , (6)
𝐾𝑖𝑗

where
1, 𝑥 > 0
𝑆𝑖𝑔𝑛(𝑥) = { 0, 𝑥 = 0 (7)
−1, 𝑥 < 0
is the sign function. The indices ij in Eq. (6) denote the location of the pipe network (for
example, 𝐾12 , is the friction coefficient of the pipes between tanks 1 and 2). Eqs. (5) and (6)
adhere to the following sign convention: vij > 0 if water flows from tank i to tank to tank j.
Now that we have an expression for the velocity between two tanks, we can plug it into
the mass balance Eq. (2) to get a system of first-order differential equations describing the water
level in each of the tanks.
For simplicity, let us consider flow between two tanks of the same diameter. In this case,
the mass balance simplifies to
𝑑ℎ1 𝑑ℎ2
=− . (8)
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡
Integrating this equation, we obtain
ℎ1 (𝑡) = −ℎ2 (𝑡) + 𝐶 (9)
where
𝐶 = ℎ1 (0) + ℎ2 (0) (10)
is the integration constant related to the initial levels h1(0) and h2(0). Substituting Eq. (9) into Eq.
(6) and then substituting the resulting expression into the mass balance Eq. (2) for tank 2 yields:

𝑑ℎ2 𝐴𝑝 𝐴𝑝 2𝑔|𝐶 − 2ℎ2 |

= 𝑣12 = 𝑆𝑖𝑔𝑛(ℎ1 − ℎ2 )√ (11)
𝑑𝑡 𝐴2 𝐴2 𝐾12

Assuming that K12 is independent of the fluid velocity, the differential equation (11) can be
solved analytically to obtain an expression for dependence of h2 on time. Plotting a linearized
model of the result is useful to obtain the friction coefficient from the slope of the graph. This

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Unit Operations Lab 3-Tank Experiment

friction coefficient can be used as an approximation in the three-tank system to simplify

calculations.
Three-Tank System
In the three-tank system, water leaving one tank flows into two other tanks, depending on
the levels of water in the tanks. Performing a mass balance on the tee below tank 1, we get:
𝑣 = 𝑣12 + 𝑣13 (12)
Since the area of the pipe is the same throughout the system, the flow rate reduces to just the
average velocities. 𝑣12 is the velocity of water going from tank 1 to tank 2 and similarly, 𝑣13 is
the velocity of water going from tank 1 to tank 3. Plugging in Eq. (6) for both 𝑣12 and 𝑣13 and
then substituting Eq. (12) into our mass balance Eq. (2) for each of the tanks will yield three
first-order differential equations.
The friction coefficients in the pipe network are given by:
𝐾𝑖𝑗 = 𝐾𝑖𝑗,𝑓 + 𝐾𝑖𝑗,𝑠 (13)
𝐾𝑓 is a constant and it is the summation of the friction contributions from the fittings, 𝐾𝑠 is the
skin friction of the pipe. The skin friction coefficient for flow through a pipe is:
𝐿
𝐾𝑠 = 4 𝐷 𝑓, (14)

where 𝐿 is the length of the pipe, 𝐷 is the diameter of the pipe, and 𝑓 is the Fanning friction
factor. The flow between the tanks can be assumed to be turbulent for the entire duration of the
experiment (see prelab questions). Therefore, we can use Blasius’ equation for the Fanning
friction factor:
𝑓 = 0.079𝑅𝑒 −.25 (15)
Substituting Eq. (15) into Eq. (14) and then plugging in the friction coefficients into the
system of equations will yield three non-linear first-order differential equations. Solution of this
system requires a numerical solution using, e.g., Euler or Runge-Kutta method. The friction
coefficients depend on the velocity of the system, which means a solver is needed to first obtain
the velocity to obtain the friction coefficients. This must be done at all water levels and seeded in
during the numerical solver process which is difficult to manage. Instead, friction coefficients
obtained from the two-tank analysis can be used as an approximation. Since the pipe networks
between tanks 1 and 2 and tanks 1 and 3 are different, two different coefficients must be
obtained.

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Unit Operations Lab 3-Tank Experiment

Objectives
1. Perform 2-tank flow experiments and obtain friction coefficients in pipes connecting each
pair of tanks.
2. Perform 3-tank flow experiments at various initial water levels in the tanks.
3. Make a theoretical prediction for transient flows in the 3-tank system.
4. Compare the experimental results with the theoretical prediction.