"THE PHYSICS OF PRESSURE"

D r F C Flack

Whenever a word, such a s p r e s s u r e , i s used both i n common parlance and i n a s p e c i a l i s e d s c i e n t i f i c sense s c i e n t i s t s must be very c a r e f u l about assuming t h a t a n o n - s c i e n t i f i c o r non-engineering colleague w i l l understand i t s meaning with t h e same p r e c i s i o n a s themselves. Nearly everyone has an i n t u i t i v e f e e l f o r what s c i e n t i s t s mean by p r e s s u r e and many know t h a t "pressure i s t h e same i n a l l directions". A more thorough understanding i n v o l v e s t h e i d e a t h a t " f o r c e p e r u n i t a r e a " i s concerned w i t h two v e c t o r q u a n t i t i e s and a s a r e s u l t p r e s s u r e is a p h y s i c a l q u a n t i t y which i s a s p e c i a l case of stress ( a n o t h e r word with an e x a c t s c i e n t i f i c meaning as w e l l a s an everyday o n e ) . To f u l l y d e s c r i b e s t r e s s , a s i s w e l l known, n i n e s e p a r a t e terms a r e needed i n g e n e r a l forming a t e n s o r , b u t i t t u r n s o u t t h a t under s p e c i a l circumstances, such a s choice of c e r t a i n axes, ';he number o f elements can be s u b s t a n t i a l l y reduced. I n t h e case o f a f l u i d a t r e s t o r f o r a moving p e r f e c t f l u i d (one which w i l l n o t s u p p o r t any shear) the nine g e n e r a l terms reduce t o t h r e e . Further, these t h r e e a r e a l l numerically equal so t h a t p r e s s u r e can be r e p r e s e n t e d by a s i n g l e e n t i t y , whose value d e s c r i b e s t h e normal f o r c e p e r u n i t a r e a , being independent of t h e d i r e c t i o n of the normal t o t h e area. However, because our usual working f l u i d s a r e n o t p e r f e c t , w e cannot always ignore t h e s h e a r i n g f o r c e s a c t i n g on t h e membranes commonly used i n pressuzetransducers u n l e s s we can be q u i t e s u r e t h a t t h e sensing elements a r e i n s e n s i t i v e t o them. Some of t h e above f a c t o r s w i l l be d i s c u s s e d i n terms of measurements of p r e s s u r e i n t h e u r e t h r a and i n p a r t i c u l a r t h e e f f e c t of transducer o r i e n t a t i o n on t h e readings and t h e i r i n t e r p r e t a t i o n . I t i s hoped t o conclude with a s h o r t d i s c u s s i o n of t h e problems encountered i n making p r e s s u r e measurements i n flowing f l u i d s where t h e use of the c o r r e c t p r e s s u r e tappings i s a l l important.

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