Quote:
Originally Posted by lastlight
Steve are you saying any safely designed rectangular tank can actually be as wide as it currently is long without issue?
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Yes, the only difference relates to the base which will have a higher load but provided your stand supports it properly it's not an issue.
Tanks are governed by three things, static pressure, hydrostatic pressure force, and seam stress. Static pressure is just density x gravity x height and has nothing to do with length or width. The hydrostatic force is the outwards force from static pressure, can be applied as equivalent at center of pane. This force creates a bending moment at your seams, the longer the moment length the higher the moment, so the governing dimension will be the longest length, additional width does not matter provided it does not exceed length. Seam stress comes from static pressure and hydrostatic force but can be reduced by larger seams (thicker glass), it will mostly relate to bending moment so again limited mostly by length. So when designing a tank things to consider are maximum length and height, then it's just a matter of choosing the appropriate glass thickness to satisfy three governing load cases. The results will be identical for both LxWxH & LxLxH provided W<=L, again this is excluding the base which should be considered in the stand design.