The paper describes the finite element (FE) modeling of closed surge tank in a pipeline system. A closed surge tank is one in which there is vacuum pressure at the top of the surge tank. The expansion or contraction of the entrapped gas inside the surge tank is accounted for in the formulation and results are compared with a finite difference formulation. The transient excitation of the fluid is modeled as an external volume velocity excitation. Two case studies are shown to demonstrate the effectiveness of the FE modeling approach.