Water Pressure on Walls of Tank

Your question asks to calculate pressure (Force). Remember pressure and force are not the same thing.

The pressure increases with the depth of water. rho x g x h.

I wouldn't be overly concerned with the pressure due to the column of water as 1 meter isn't much but I would be concerned with the weight of the water (if this is in a domestic situation) as the physical size of a water container leads most people to greatly underestimate the weight involved.

Did you consider BUYING a tank? Unless you require a non conventional shape, any of-the shelf tank will probably be more efficient and cheaper than what you intend to do!

Water pressure increases linearly with depth. A cubic meter of water weighs about 9807 newtons, so the pressure on the side of your tank increases from 0 at the top to about 9807 newtons per square meter at a depth of 1 meter. So the total force would be .5 x 1.5 meters squared x 9807 newtons/meter or about 7355 newtons.

I think your answer should represent the force on a band of material at the bottom of the tank, as this is the only place the stresses may be at the material, thickness limits. F=mg, dF=ρghdA. Tank is 1 m height, 1.5 m² area. We arbitrarily "assume" this vessel to be a rectangular cross section from vertical view. If the vessel were round, then it could be made without a "glue" joint...except maybe at the bottom.

Area = LxW, and perimeter is 2(L+W). Chart below reflects relationship between perimeter and length (or width) at constant area. Tank height is also fixed at 1 m, so volume is also constant, the only parameter is stress, and that has yet to be analyzed. I will some other Gengus point out the hoop and corner stresses here.

The minimum perimeter tank will be square cross-section (if not circular, and that would be even lower perimeter). That really about all I care to add.

Round or rectangular?

make sure the glue has dried before adding water

word of advice. the weakest part of the tank will be the joints. Even if you weld the plastic. it has to be done correctly, not for the novice.

Even though its not quite same,.... I recall my nieces husband, who is an engineer, when he was fresh out of college, he wanted to build a large fish tank that fitted into a wall of his house. Actually, the tank was the wall of the house.

It's fortunate that he made some proto types before he committed to the full size version. That was 20 years ago, he still has no fish tank.

Oh boy, I'm sorry for the guy, I bet you don't miss a chance to bring that back.

which is why round is always better

That's too bad; there are ways to do it, such as suitable stay bolts and an aerator of higher than usual pressure. Or really thick glass, as seen in many public aquaria.

You can use Red sea reefer instead of simple fish tank which comes with highly advanced features and also you don't have to worry about water pressure, filter cleaning stuff. To know more about this tank, visit aquaristic online.

Here's a 10 dollar solution:

Buy a discarded 25 Gal. drum that has contained non-hazardous material. I used one with a couple checks, a Pedrollo pump and voila ! I got an emergency water supply when the town well stops working; real handy early mornings when I got to shower before going to work; 1500 pesos VS. 8500 of a comercial system .

1½ m³ =~ 400 US gallons =~ 330 UK gallons

I've bought 2 of these used, for $50-$75.00, from a packaging company.

like new condition, 360 Gallon and used once. Had bulk Shampoo in it, and they used that to fill the little shampoo packets you see in hotels.

I used them as rain barrels.

My apologies, I didn't even bother to convert volume to gallons, phenix911 is got the right solution, but it went from 10 to 50 bucks, I hope it's not an issue for the O.P.

well, those are like new.... there are cheaper ones, but the condition or what it was used for is in question.

Not for $10.00, maybe 25.00

Between 1,000 kgm and 1,500 kgm, depending on high you fill the tank.
That's why the metric system is so handy.
The surprising thing is this: It does not matter how big the tank is. It just depends on the height when working out the pressure on the walls.
A one metre x one metre tank that is only 2cm deep has the same pressure on the front and back wall.

I can tell you what will happen if you try a "trial & error" approach. I had a restoration business and was asked to respond to a frantic call from a surgeon who fabricated a large salt water tank from thick glass and metal framing. He did everything right in terms of top quality components and was very patient in getting the tank set up. Unfortunately he was installing the aquarium in a position between two rooms on the second floor above the kitchen and dining room so that it would be visible from both. He added fish, plants, and other species gradually and monitored the temperature and pH carefully while filling the 1,000 gallon tank with salt water. Then after several weeks he filled it and everything was great until it shattered from the strain of being balanced in the middle without support at each end. While he desperately rescued the animals and fish in 5 gallon buckets, his wife was trying to salvage her kitchen and cabinets filled with salt water. We restored the home from the insurance claim but the tank was not replaced.

Are you attempting to make an aquarium? Did you know they can custom make one cheaper than you can build it? Not only that, it takes the risk management aspect off your shoulders. If you are going into the aquarium business, you unfortunately have a long road ahead of you.

It is unusual for anyone to want to design a plastic tank from first principles when there are so many off-the-shelf solutions available to store 1.5m³ of water!

Try a Google search on "plastic tank suppliers" for a warranty-bound solution to the problem first.

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