Brief Description: Engineering calculations for fuel tank test pressu
My son Patrick is a mechanical engineering major at Auburn Univeristy. He is specializing in vehicle dynamics and wants to be a race car engineer. He spent last summer as an intern for the Andretti-Green Racing team in the Indy Racing League. His driver, Bryan Herta, took third place in the Indy 500 last year. I asked Patrick to put some of that expensive education to work and let me know what pressure I should test the fuel tanks to. He calculated that, at rest, the fuel tanks would have a maximum pressure of .2 pounds per square inch (see image 1). To test the fuel tanks to 2 pounds (a safety factor of 10), you would have to pump up the manometer to raise the water level approximately 55 inches (see image 2).
