Hydrostatics

Topics
 Pascal’s law
 Pressure Variation With Depth in a Static

Incompressible Fluid
 Pressure Measurement
Introduction
 Hydrostatics is the study of fluid at rest
 For fluid at rest

 There are no shear stresses acting on fluid

elements.
 only normal stresses can be present for fluid
element of any shape.
The surface force from the normal stress
on a fluid element at rest under gravity
must be in equilibrium with the volume
force of the fluid element due to the gravity.
Pascal's law
 Pascal's laws:

“ The pressure at any point in a fluid at rest

has a single value, independent of direction.
◦” Pressure acts uniformly in all directions on a small
volume (point) of a fluid
◦ In a fluid confined by solid boundaries, pressure
acts perpendicular to the boundary – it is a normal
force.
Direction of Fluid Pressure on
Boundaries

Furnace duct Pipe or tube

Heat exchanger

Pressure is due to a Normal Force

(acting perpendicular to the surface)
Dam It is also called a Surface Force
 Proving Pascal's Law

The equation of motion in the y and z direction are,

From geometry,
 The equation of motion can be rewritten as

We take the limit as and approach

zero z
x, y

Redefining –Pascal’s Law

The Pressure at a point in a fluid at rest, or
in motion, is independent of direction as
long as there are no shearing stresses
present.
Pressure on Dams

Turbine Hydrostatic forces

Energy conversion
Hydrostatic uplift
Bernoulli equation
Pascal’s principle (The hydrostatic paradox)

 The pressure at a point in a fluid depends only

on density, gravity and depth.

 The pressure in a homogeneous,

incompressible fluid at rest depends on the
depth of the fluid relative to some reference
plane, and it is not influenced by the size or
shape of the tank or container
Continued…
 This statement can be explained by using a diagram in the fig.
where all points, a, b, c and d, have the same value of pressure,
that is pa = pb = pc = pd
 However, the pressure at point D is not identical from those at
points, A, B, and C since the fluid is different, i.e.
◦ pA = pB = pB ≠ pD
 Hydraulic Jack
A small force F1 applied to a piston with a small
area produces a much larger force F2 on the larger
piston. This allows a hydraulic jack to lift heavy
objects.
Pressure Variation With Depth
For a liquid, usually the position is measured as distance
from the free surface, or depth h, which is positive
downward as illustrated in Fig.
 Continued…
If we let the pressure at the
center of the element be
designated as P, then the average
pressure on the various forces
can be expressed as Fig.
We are using a Taylor series
expansion of the pressure at the
element center.
  g
 Incompressible Fluid
Changes in are caused either by a change in or . For
most engineering applications the variation in is negligible,
so our main concern is with the possible variation in the fluid
density. For liquids the variation in density usually negligible
so that the assumption of constant specific weight when
dealing with liquids is good one.
g


or
Where p1 and p2 are pressure at the vertical elevations z1 and
z2, pre

or
 Measurement of Pressure
The pressure at the earth surface depends on
the air column above it.
Atmospheric pressure
• refers to the prevailing pressure in the air
around us.
• It varies somewhat with changing weather
conditions, and it decreases with increasing
altitude.
• At sea level, average atmospheric pressure is
101.3 kPa (abs), or 1 atmosphere (1 bar = 1x10 5
Pa), 10.3m of water or 760mm of mercury.
• This is commonly referred to as ‘standard
atmospheric pressure’.
Continued …
• Pressure measurements are generally indicated as being either absolute or
gauge pressure.
• Vacuum is an empty space where pressure is zero.

Gauge pressure
• is the pressure measured above or below the atmospheric pressure (i.e.
taking the atmospheric as datum).
• can be positive or negative.
• A negative gauge pressure is also known as vacuum pressure.

Absolute pressure
• uses absolute zero, which is the lowest possible pressure.
• Therefore, an absolute pressure will always be positive.
• A simple equation relating the two pressure measuring system can be
written as:

Pabs = Pgauge + Patm

 Units and Scales of Pressure
Measurement
patm 101x103 Pa
h= =
g 9806 N / m3
Gage pressure
Absolute pressure
Standard atmospheric pressure

1 atmosphere Partial/Suction vacuum

101.325 kPa (gage pressure)
10.34m H 0
______ 2
760 mm Hg
Absolute zero (complete vacuum)
Units for Pressure
Unit Definition or Relationship

1 pascal (Pa) 1 kg m-1 s-2

1 bar 1 x 105 Pa

1 atmosphere (atm) 101,325 Pa

1 torr 1 / 760 atm

760 mm Hg 1 atm

14.696 pounds per sq. in. 1 atm

(psi)
Pressure Measurement
 Barometers Measure atmospheric
 Manometers
pressure
◦ Standard
Pressure relative to
◦ Differential atm.
Pressure difference between 2
pts.
The Barometer
 Atmospheric pressure is
measured by a device called
a barometer; thus,
atmospheric pressure is
often referred to as the
barometric pressure.
 PC can be taken to be zero
since there is only Hg vapor
above point C, and it is very
low relative to Patm.
 Change in atmospheric
pressure due to elevation
has many effects: Cooking,
PC   gh  Patm nose bleeds, engine
performance, aircraft
Patm   gh performance.
 Piezometer Tube
What is the gauge pressure at A, given
h?
p = gh

Pressure in water distribution systems

commonly varies between 175 to 700
kPa. How high would the water rise in h
a manometer connected to a pipe
containing water at 500 kPa?
h = p/g
h = 500,000 Pa/(9800
N/m3) A
h = 51 m
U-tube Manometer
 Although this apparatus (Piezometer) is simple, it has limitations,
i.e.
a) It cannot measure suction pressure which is lower than the
atmospheric pressure,
b) The pressure measured is limited by available column height,
c) It can only deal with liquids, not gases.
 The restriction possessed by the piezometer tube can be overcome
by the U-tube manometer. The U-tube manometer is also an open
manometer and the pressure p3 can be calculated as followed:
p3 = p4
p1 + 1gh1 = 2gh2 + p3
 p3 = 2gh2 - 1gh1 + p0
 Manometers for High Pressures
Find the gage pressure in the
center of the sphere. The sphere P2 =
contains fluid with g1 and the P4
1
manometer contains fluid with g2.
What do you know? _____P =0 1
g2
Use statics to find other pressures. h1
3
P1 + h1g2 - h2g1 =P3
g1 ?
h2
or small h1 use fluid with high density. 2 4
Mercury!
Differential U-tube Manometer
 There is also a ‘closed’ type of manometer which can
measure pressure difference between two points, 1 and
2. This apparatus is known as the differential U-tube
manometer. For this case, the formula for pressure
difference can be derived as followed:

p1 + h1gw- h2gHg- h3gw= p2

p1 - p2 = (h3-h1)gw + h2gHg
p1 - p2 = h2(gHg - gw)
 Differential Manometers

p1 Water p2
h
orifice 3

h1
h2

Mercury
Find the Drop in Pressure
Between Point 1 and Point 2.
Inclined Manometer
 To measure small pressure differences need to
magnify Rm some way.

Pa  Pb  gR1 (  a   b ) sin 
Continued...
 Based on the principle of hydrostatic pressure
distribution, we can develop an apparatus that can
measure pressure through a column of fluid.

• For multi-fluid systems

– Pressure change across a fluid column of
height h is DP = rgh.
– Pressure increases downward, and
decreases upward.
– Two points at the same elevation in a
continuous fluid are at the same
pressure.
– Pressure can be determined by adding
and subtracting rgh terms.
P2  1 gh1   2 gh2  3 gh3  P1
END
 Hydrostatic
Forces on
Plane Surfaces
Topics
 Hydrostatic thrust on plane surfaces
 Pressure diagrams
 Hydrostatic thrust on curved surfaces
 Hydrostatic buoyant thrust
 Stability floating bodies
 Determination of metacenter
Hydrostatic forces on plane surfaces

• Horizontal surface exposed to a liquid

P = Patm

h P=constant along the

horizontal surface
F F = P . A

P=rgh+Patm P=rgh+Patm
Hydrostatic forces on plane surfaces
• Vertical surface exposed to liquid
Example: The lock gate of a canal is rectangular, 20 m wide and
10 m high. One side is exposed to the atmosphere and the other
side to the water. What is the net force on the lock gate?

h P

F H  Here the pressure varies

linearly with depth P=rgh

Vertical rectangular wall (wall width = W)

Hydrostatic Force on a
Plane Surface
The magnitude of the resultant force can be found by summing
these differential forces over entire surface.

The integral is the first moment of the area with respect to the x
axis

or
The moment of the resultant force must equal the moment of the
distributed pressure force, or
Therefore,

The integral is the second moment of the area with respect to axis
formed by the intersection of the plane surface and the free
surface.

By parallel axis theorem

Thus,
Centroid Location for Common Shapes
3.7 Hydrostatic Force
on a Curved Surface
(3.23)

(3.24)

▲ Fig. 3.19
3.6 Buoyancy : Archimedes’ Principle

(3.20)

(3.21)

(3.22)

▲ Fig. 3.18