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Elliptical Tube flat pattern

What it is

The elliptical tube is a shell of elliptical section: the development is rectangular, like a cylinder, but the length comes from the perimeter of the ellipse, which has no closed form and is obtained by numerical integration along the outline.

Where it is used

Ventilation ducting in restricted height where the flow area must be kept; oval fairings and structures.

Measurements the calculation needs

  • X Overall width of the ellipse
  • Y Overall height of the ellipse
  • H Length of the tube
  • DV Divisions
  • THK Plate thickness

Calculate with your own measurements

No account needed: enter the measurements in millimetres or inches and get the figures and the drawing. The scaled PDF template, the DXF for the cutting table and the 3D model take a free account.

Diameters and sides are outside measurements. The flat pattern already allows for the plate thickness, working on the mean line.

Inches or millimetres? mm inches

Worked example

The values the form comes pre-filled with, run through the tool itself:

Overall width of the ellipse 1000 mm
Overall height of the ellipse 500 mm
Length of the tube 800 mm
Divisions 32
Plate thickness 1 mm
The flat pattern fits a plate of 2419 × 800 mm

Result of the example

Plate 2419 × 800 mm
Area and weight 1.94 m² · ≈ 15.2 kg in 1 mm steel
Elliptical Tube flat pattern: drawing of the template with the worked example dimensions
Cut lines in purple, welds in green and reference lines in orange. Plate 2419 × 800 mm.

Ordinate table

#Position on the plateElement height
1-2,419 mm800 mm
2-2,321.3 mm800 mm
3-2,226.5 mm800 mm
4-2,137 mm800 mm
5-2,055.1 mm800 mm
6-1,982.3 mm800 mm
7-1,919 mm800 mm
8-1,864 mm800 mm
9-1,814.2 mm800 mm
10-1,764.4 mm800 mm
11-1,709.5 mm800 mm
12-1,646.2 mm800 mm
13-1,573.4 mm800 mm
14-1,491.5 mm800 mm
15-1,402 mm800 mm
16-1,307.1 mm800 mm
17-1,209.5 mm800 mm
18-1,111.8 mm800 mm
19-1,017 mm800 mm
20-927.5 mm800 mm
21-845.6 mm800 mm
22-772.8 mm800 mm
23-709.5 mm800 mm
24-654.6 mm800 mm
25-604.7 mm800 mm
26-554.9 mm800 mm
27-500 mm800 mm
28-436.7 mm800 mm
29-363.9 mm800 mm
30-282 mm800 mm
31-192.5 mm800 mm
32-97.7 mm800 mm
330 mm800 mm

Guides about this part

Frequently asked questions

How does this differ from the oval tube?
An ellipse is a continuous curve whose radius changes at every point. The oval tube is two semicircles joined by two straight runs. They are different sections and do not substitute for one another.
Are X and Y the axes or the semi-axes?
The full axes: the overall width and height of the ellipse.
Elliptical Tube dimension drawing: X (Overall width of the ellipse), Y (Overall height of the ellipse), H (Length of the tube), DV (Divisions), THK (Plate thickness), marked on the part
Calculate here, no account Open the full calculator

You can work out the figures right here, with no account. PDF, DXF, 3D and history take an account — free, with unlimited calculations.

Related parts: Non-round tubes