Hydrostatic

Pressuredistributioninastaticfluidanditseffectsonsolidsurfacesandon
floatingandsubmergedbodies.

FluidStatics

M.Bahrami

ENSC283

Spring2009

Fluidatrest

hydrostaticcondition:whenafluidvelocityiszero,thepressurevariationis
dueonlytotheweightofthefluid.

Thereisnopressurechangeinthehorizontaldirection.
Thereis apressurechangeintheverticaldirectionproportionaltothe
density,gravity,anddepthchange.

Inthelimitwhenthewedgeshrinkstoapoint,

FluidStatics

M.Bahrami

ENSC283

Spring2009

Pressureforces(pressuregradient)

Assumethepressurevaryarbitrarilyinafluid,p=p(x,y,z,t).

Thepressuregradientisasurfaceforce thatactsonthesidesoftheelement.
Note that the pressure gradient (not pressure) causes a net force that must be
Notethatthepressuregradient(notpressure)causesanetforcethatmustbe
balancedbygravityoracceleration.

FluidStatics

M.Bahrami

ENSC283

Spring2009

Equilibrium

Thepressuregradientmustbebalancedbygravityforce,orweightofthe
element,forafluidatrest.

Thegravityforceisabodyforce,actingontheentiremassoftheelement.
Magneticforceisanotherexampleofbodyforce.

FluidStatics

M.Bahrami

ENSC283

Spring2009

Gagepressureandvacuum

Theactualpressureatagivenpositioniscalledtheabsolutepressure,and
itismeasuredrelativetoabsolutevacuum.
P
Pgage
Pabs

Pvac
Patm

FluidStatics

M.Bahrami

ENSC283

Absolute
Ab
l t
(vacuum)=0

Spring2009

Hydrostaticpressuredistribution

Forafluidatrest,pressuregradientmustbebalancedbythegravityforce

Recall:pisperpendiculareverywheretosurfaceofconstantpressurep.
Inourcustomarycoordinatezisupwardandthegravityvectoris:

whereg=9.807m/s
where
g = 9 807 m/s2.Thepressuregradientvectorbecomes:
The pressure gradient vector becomes:

FluidStatics

M.Bahrami

ENSC283

Spring2009

Hydrostaticpressuredistribution

Pressureinacontinuouslydistributeduniformstaticfluidvariesonlywith
verticaldistanceandisindependentoftheshapeofthecontainer.
Thepressureisthesameatallpointsonagivenhorizontalplaneinafluid.

Forliquids,whichareincompressible,wehave:

Thequantity,p isalengthcalledthepressureheadofthefluid.

FluidStatics

M.Bahrami

ENSC283

Spring2009

Themercurybarometer

Patm =761mmHg

Mercuryhasanextremelysmallvapor
Mercury
has an extremely small vapor pressureatroomtemperature
pressure at room temperature
(almostvacuum),thusp1 =0.Onecanwrite:

FluidStatics

M.Bahrami

ENSC283

Spring2009

Hydrostaticpressureingases

Gasesarecompressible,usingtheidealgasequationofstate,p=RT:

Forsmallvariationsinelevation,isothermalatmospherecanbe
assumed:

Ingeneral(forhigheraltitudes)theatmospherictemperaturedropsoff
linearlywithz
TT0 Bz
whereT0 isthesealeveltemperature(inKelvin)andB=0.00650K/m.

Note that the Patm isnearlyzero(vacuumcondition)atz

NotethattheP
is nearly zero (vacuum condition) at z =30km.
= 30 km

FluidStatics

M.Bahrami

ENSC283

Spring2009

Manometry

Astaticcolumnofoneormultiplefluidscanbeusedtomeasurepressure
differencebetween2points.Suchadeviceiscalledmanometer.

Adding/subtractingz
/
asmovingdown/upinafluidcolumn.
/

JumpingacrossUtubes:anytwopointsatthesameelevationina
continuousmassofthesamestaticfluidwillbeatthesamepressure.

FluidStatics

M.Bahrami

ENSC283

Spring2009

10

Hydrostaticforcesonsurfaces
Consideraplanepanelofarbitraryshapecompletelysubmergedinaliquid.

Thetotalhydrostaticforceononesideoftheplaneisgivenby:

FluidStatics

M.Bahrami

ENSC283

Spring2009

11

Hydrostaticforcesonsurfaces

Afterintegrationandsimplifications,wefind:

Theforceononesideofanyplanesubmergedsurfaceinauniformfluid
equalsthepressureattheplatecentroidtimestheplatearea,
independentoftheshapeoftheplateorangle.
p
p
p
g

Theresultantforceactsnotthroughthecentroidbutbelowittowardthe
highpressureside.Itslineofactionpassesthroughthecentreofpressure
g p
p
g
p
CPoftheplate(xCP,yCP).

FluidStatics

M.Bahrami

ENSC283

Spring2009

12

Hydrostaticforcesonsurfaces

Centroidalmomentsofinertiaforvariouscrosssections.

Note:forsymmetricalplates,Ixyy =0andthusxCP =0.Asaresult,thecenter

ofpressureliesdirectlybelowthecentroidontheyaxis.

FluidStatics

M.Bahrami

ENSC283

Spring2009

13

Hydrostaticforces:curvedsurfaces

Theeasiestwaytocalculatethepressureforcesonacurvedsurfaceisto
computethehorizontalandverticalforcesseparately.

Thehorizontalforceequalstheforceontheplaneareaformedbythe
projectionofthecurvedsurfaceontoaverticalplanenormaltothe
component.
t

Theverticalcomponentequalstotheweightoftheentirecolumnoffluid,
bothliquidandatmosphericabovethecurvedsurface.
FV=W2 +W1 +Wair

FluidStatics

M.Bahrami

ENSC283

Spring2009

14