Sintex Underground Tank -- GDL Object

Sintex Plastics is probably the largest manufacturer of tanks in the country and certainly one of the oldest. Here's one of their products that is not really seen much on a site--not because it's never used but because almost the entire thing is buried.

For a couple of projects I simply used two primitives--a octagonal block and a flat cylinder to show the part above ground--but that wasn't really ideal and there was always the question on a steeply sloping site of whether some part of the body would stick out.

As you can see in the image below, there are very few parameters so I've not wasted time making an interface. If you choose any of the six standard sizes from the list, you won't have to touch anything else except the elevation. In fact, all the dimensions will be locked to prevent error.

If you want to change the dimensions, though, there is a "custom" option. Note that I've not restricted any of the parameters so if, for example, you make the manhole wider than the tank itself you'll get errors in 3d view.


Incidentally, I recently discovered that one series of Sintex septic tanks have the same outer shell as these underground tanks so this object actually represents both products. I've never used the latter, though. Not yet, at any rate.

Ah, yes, one interesting thing is that you can choose to cast a shadow with the entire object (unnecessary in almost all cases), only the part that sticks out of the ground, or not at all.

Finally, a disclaimer:
Apart from basic sizes, no dimensions or drawings are provided on the Sintex website so please do not expect this object to be a perfect representation of the actual product.

Download it here | ARCHICAD 18+