To find the surface area of a triangular prism, we need to calculate the areas of the two triangular bases and the three rectangular faces.
The area of a triangle can be calculated using the formula:
Area = (base * height) / 2
Given the base and height of the triangular face, we can calculate its area:
Area of triangular face = (18 * 12) / 2 = 108 square meters
Since the triangular prism has two triangular bases, the total area of the bases is:
Total area of triangular bases = 2 * Area of triangular face = 2 * 108 = 216 square meters
The rectangular faces of the prism can be treated as rectangles with dimensions equal to the length of the prism and the perimeter of the triangular base.
The perimeter of the triangular base is calculated by adding the lengths of all three sides:
Perimeter of triangular base = 18 + 15 + 15 = 48 meters
The area of each rectangular face is calculated by multiplying the length of the prism by the perimeter of the triangular base:
Area of rectangular face = length * perimeter of triangular base = 19.7 * 48 = 945.6 square meters
Since the triangular prism has three rectangular faces, the total area of the rectangular faces is:
Total area of rectangular faces = 3 * Area of rectangular face = 3 * 945.6 = 2836.8 square meters
Finally, we can calculate the total surface area of the triangular prism by summing the areas of the triangular bases and the rectangular faces:
Total surface area = Total area of triangular bases + Total area of rectangular faces = 216 + 2836.8 = 3052.8 square meters
Therefore, the surface area of the triangular prism is 3052.8 square meters.