Opitimal Design of a Tank

by Renis Nishku

Submitted : Spring 2009

Often manufacturing companies require tanks for storing, mixing or filtering their products and they have to find the perfect tank that fits their needs and budget. In this problem the tank consists of an open cylinder with a cone base. Using calculus we need to find the minimal surface area required to keep the cost down and still be able to support the required volume. This is an optimization problem and using substitution and calculus, we are able to solve the problem. This showed that if we know how to apply calculus to this problem we could have a less expensive tank. It demonstrates how calculus is used in the real world, outside of school.

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