Volume by Flow-rate and Time

The Total Volume calculator computes the total volume based on the volumetric flow rate (vR) and the period (p) of flow, production or consumption.

INSTRUCTIONS: Choose the units and enter the following:

• (vR)  This is the volumetric flow-rate (e.g. 7.6 liters per day)
• (p)  This is the duration of the flow.

Total Volume (V): The calculator computes the volume in liters.  However this can be automatically converted to many other volume units (e.g. gallons, cubic inches) via the pull-down menu.

The Math / Science

The formula for total volume based on flow rate and duration is:

           V = vR • p

where:

• V = Total Volume
• vR = Volumetric flow rate
• p = duration (period) of flow

Practical Examples

The High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is cool by a tremendous flow of water to extract heat from the reactor core.  The flow rate of the water in the HFIR reactor is approximately 16,000 gallons per minute.  This calculator will tell you how much water is pumped through the reactor over any specified time period.  For one day, HFIR pumps 23,040,000 gallons of water.  To compute the total volume with this calculator:

1. Enter 16,000 in the volumetric flow rate (vR)
2. Toggle the units in the flow rate to gallons per minute
3. Enter 1 in the period (p)
4. Toggle the units in the period to day
5. The calculator will return 87215887.50336 Liters
6. Toggle the output units to gallons to see 23,040,000 gallons