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Cylindrical Shaped Tankers
Why Do Liquid-Carrying Trucks Have Cylindrical Shaped Tankers?
You would
have often seen oil or water tankers in your city & surroundings and
wondered why they are in such cylindrical shape?
Why these
tankers only have a cylindrical shape but not cubical or some ideal box based
shape?
· Greater Stability
A
transport vehicle carrying liquids like liquefied flammable gases and oils
needs utmost stability to transport them safely because the liquid has a
property of agility.
For the
commute to happen successfully, the correct shape of tanker matters a lot.
The shape
of tanker should have a low center of gravity and this can be attained only
through a cylindrical-shaped tanker.
The
rectangular or square shaped tankers have comparatively a high center of
gravity, which risks the vehicle’s stability.
· No weak points
A cylindrical-shaped
container doesn’t have structural weak points that require reinforcing.
In fact,
a rectangular or a square shaped container has corners and flat sides that can
easily break under high pressure.
It means
conventional rectangular container will lead to failure over time quicker than
a cylindrical container.
· Sloshing liquid
When a
tanker accelerates or de-accelerates, the liquid in the tank sloshes around due
to the law of inertia i.e., “a body at rest remains at rest and a body in
motion continues to move until an opposite external force acts on it.”
The
phenomenon of sloshing is called as ‘surge.’
To reduce
the surge effect while slowing down or accelerating during the travel, the
tankers have metal sheets placed inside them that reduce the to-and-fro surging
of liquid.
That’s
why experienced drivers maintain a habit of slowing down or accelerating their
tanker trucks smoothly.
Moreover,
a spherical container counters the surging of liquid better as compared to
other shapes.
· Extraction of liquid
A
cylindrical container is most favorable in extracting the liquid from the truck
in an easier way than the other shaped containers.
This is
because the liquid gets funneled down to bottom of a cylindrical tank and even
the least of drops flow out.
On the other
hand, a rectangular tank would not allow the movement of liquid at the vent
point and all the time some amount of product will always be left behind.
· Maintenance
A
cylindrical container is easier to clean than any rectangular container because
in a box-shaped tank the traces of liquid will get stuck at the corners and
eventually be harder to remove.
A
cylindrical container contains no such corners, therefore their cleaning is
easy.
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