Pond Volume Estimation Assistance

For Regular Shapes

It is always very difficult to be exact in calculating pond volumes Despite this it is important to have a good estimate of the amount of water in the pond system This spreadsheet is designed to offer assistance. Many complex shapes can be approximated by "adding" shapes together. Do not get too carried away however by the need for absolute accuracy - it is not important to be absolutely correct. Be content with your best (but good) estimate. Do not worry about the rocket science. Take the following as an example

This shape is actually "a square + a triangle". As such the total size or area covered can be calculated by calculating the 2 simple shapes seperately and adding the results together. The second point to realise about volumes of shapes is that if you know the cross sectional area and the height/depth is of a uniform shape you can easily calculate the volume just by multiplying the area by the height or depth of the shape. The volume of a cylinder is the area of a circle multiplied by the depth of the cylinder for example. If we take the above example of area and show what this might look like from the side you will see what I mean

This is area (top view) looking from above

This is what it looks like from front side - uniform depth/height Now if the green section above was not uniform then it would be necessary to take an approximation of the average height or depth before multipying by the area - see below. The principle remains however: cross sectional area multiplied by average height or depth = volume Average = (2+3+4+5)/4 = 3.5

Average depth/height = 3.5 If area was 2 then volume would be 2 * 3.5

Calculation of shapes - all use metres as dimensions

All answers are in sq metres for areas and cu metres for volumes To convert any units you like go to www.convert-me.com (excellent site) 1 cubic metre = 1,000 litres. 1square metre = 10.76 square feet. 1 metre = 39.3 inches

39.37008

Circles and Spheres - enter your number in blue

Answers are shown in yellow regions like this

Diameter =
Area Circle Circle circumference Area sphere Volume sphere 0.28 1.88 1.13 0.11

0.6

Cylinder
Diameter = Height = 0.6 4

Box
Height Width Depth 2 1 0.7
Volume cylinder 1.13

Cone
Side length of cone (s) Diameter circle Height of cone s 0.5 0.3 0.4

Volume box Surface area box

1.40 8.20

Volume cone Surface area cone

0.04 0.31

Height Width of base

Height

1.2 2

L2
Area triangle 1.60

Trapezoid
Top width Bottom width 0.6 1 1.2

Tank
A1

Height

L1
H
A2

Area trapezoid 0.96 Note that a triangle consists of trapezoid (s) + a smaller triangle (see opposite)

Volume of tank = ((A1+A2)/2)*H A1 = area of top of tank A2 = area of bottom of tank H = height of tank

Work this one out!

( yes - 2 rectangles)