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3 votes
The end of a car tunnel has the shape

of a semi-circle on top of a rectangle.
The tunnel is exactly 4 km long.
a) Calculate the volume of air in the
tunnel with no cars in it.
b) The air in a car tunnel must be
exchanged frequently. If the exhaust
system pumps the air out at a rate of
10 m3
per second, how long does it
take to replace the stale air with fresh
air in the entire tunnel? Give your
answer in hours and minutes.

The end of a car tunnel has the shape of a semi-circle on top of a rectangle. The-example-1

1 Answer

3 votes

Answer:

a) 149,270 m³

b) 4 hours 9 minutes

Explanation:

You want to know the volume of air in a 4 km tunnel 8 m high and 5 m wide with a semicircular cross section at the top. And you want to know the replacement time for that air if it is exchanged at 10 m³ per second.

Area

The area of the semicircular top of the tunnel is ...

A = π/8d²

A = π/8·(5 m)² = 25π/8 m²

The area of the rectangular bottom of the tunnel is ...

A = LW

A = (5 m)(8 -2.5 m) = 27.5 m²

So the total cross sectional area of the tunnels is ...

(25π/8 +27.5) m² ≈ 37.317477 m²

a) Volume

The volume of the tunnel is ...

V = Bh

V = (37.317477 m²)(4000 m) ≈ 149269.9 m³

The volume of the air in the tunnel is about 149269.9 m³.

b) Exchange time

At 10 m³ per second, the air will be replaced after ...

(149269.9 m³)/(10 m³/s) = 14926.99 s ≈ 4 hours 9 minutes

The given pump takes 4 hours 9 minutes to replace the air in the entire tunnel.

__

Additional comment

This tunnel would not meet any standard of safety.

A typical building is supposed to have about 5 air exchanges per hour. That's about 21 times the rate given here. Some tunnel structures need to have the air exchanged once per minute. (Here, that would mean the wind in the tunnel is 149 mph.)

The breathing requirements of the tunnel occupants need to be considered, as well as removal of air pollutants.

There are 3600 seconds in 1 hour.

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The end of a car tunnel has the shape of a semi-circle on top of a rectangle. The-example-1
answered
User Alberto Rivera
by
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