How to Calculate the Weight of Stainless Steel Tanks
- 1). Measure the height and thickness of the cylinder in inches. For example, say the height and thickness measure 78 inches and 2.0 inches, respectively.
- 2). Measure the circumference, or distance around the cylinder in inches. Assume a circumference of 370.0 inches as an example.
- 3). Divide the circumference by 2 times the pi to determine the radius in inches. Use 3.14 for pi. Continuing the example, you have 370.0 inches divided by 6.28 which equals a radius of 58.9 inches.
- 4). Convert the height, thickness and radius to feet by dividing by 12, because each foot contains 12 inches. In the example, performing this step leads to a height of 6.5 feet, a thickness of 0.17 feet and a radius of 4.9 feet.
- 5). Multiply 6.28 times radius times height times thickness to obtain the volume of the cylinder in cubic feet. Continuing the example, you have 6.28 times 4.9 feet times 6.5 feet times 0.17 feet, or a volume of 34.0 cubic feet.
- 6). Multiply the weight density of stainless steel by the volume to get the weight of the tank in pounds. Completing the exercise leads to 487 pounds per cubic foot times 34.0 cubic feet which equals 16,558 pounds.
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