ME 305 Fluid Mechanics I

Part 2
Fluid Statics
These presentations are prepared by
Dr. Cneyt Sert

Mechanical Engineering Department

Middle East Technical University
Ankara, Turkey
csert@metu.edu.tr

Please ask for permission before using them. You are NOT allowed to modify them.
2-1

Fluid Statics
Fluids at rest can not support any shear stress (they are free of shear).
For static fluids we can only talk about normal stress which is equal to pressure.
Determining the pressure distribution within the fluid is the main task here.
Applications include
Pressure distribution in atmosphere and oceans.
Pressure measurement using manometers.
Forces acting on submerged solid bodies.
Bouyancy and stabilitiy of floating bodies.
Fluids in rigid body motion are also free of shear
forces and will be studied in this chapter.
Clyde Dam
http://www.cromwell.org.nz/aerial_photos/pages/Clyde Dam_jpg.htm

2-2

Hydrostatic Forces Acting on Submerged Surfaces

Pressure always acts perpendicular to a surface.

Exercise : Show the variation of pressure force acting on the walls of the following
containers.

The task is to find

the total pressure force acting on a submerged surface and

point of application of the resultant pressure force.

2-16

Hydrostatic Forces Acting on Planar Surfaces

Exercise : Calculate the resultant pressure force Fr acting on the upper surface of
the arbitrarliy shaped plate and its point of application (xCP, yCP).
p0
hCP

hG

Fr

dF

Side view
G

CP

y
x

y
xG
y

dA

Normal view
yG
yCP

xCP

CP

2-17

Hydrostatic Forces Acting on Planar Surfaces (contd)

z

p0

Fr
G : centroid
CP : center of pressure
y

1
=

1
=

Resultant force Fr is equal to the pressure at G times the area of the surface.

Fr acts at a point called the center of pressure (CP).

2-18

Hydrostatic Forces Acting on Planar Surfaces (contd)

Exercise : Semicircular gate is hinged along
B and held by horizontal force FA applied at
A. The liquid on the left of the gate is water.
Calculate the force FA required for
equilibrium.

8m

Gate
Side view

3m
B

Exercise : Solve the previous problem by

considering a triangular gate as shown.
Base length and height of the gate are 6 m
and 3 m, respectively.

A
B

2-19

Hydrostatic Forces Acting on Planar Surfaces (contd)

Exercise : A 2 m wide plane gate of
uniform thickness holds back a depth
of water as shown. It is hinged from
along its top side. Find the minimum
weight needed to keep the gate
closed.

Exercise : As water rises on the left side of

the rectangular gate, the gate will open
automatically. At what depth D above the
hinge will this occur ? How will the result
change if the mass of the gate is
considered ?

3m
Water
30o

Gate
D

1.5 m

Hinge

2-20

Pressure Prism Method

This is an alternative (and easy) technique to calculate hydrostatic forces acting on
submerged planar surfaces.
Consider an imaginary prism with the surface of interest being its base and the
amount of pressure acting on the surface being its height.
p0

hB

Fr dF

= =
h

hA
=

= = volume of the
CP

0 +

0 +

dA

pressure prism
(xCP, yCP) corresponds to the
coordinates of the centroid of
the pressure prism.
2-22

Hydrostatic Forces Acting on Curved Surfaces

Exercise : Consider the following curved surface. Derive expressions to calculate
the components of the resultant force in x, y and z directions.

2-23

Hydrostatic Forces Acting on Curved Surfaces (contd)

For the following simplified curved surface which is aligned with one of the Cartesian
axis, we need to calculate only one horizontal and one vertical force component.

Curved
surface

Projected
planar surface

=
2-24

Hydrostatic Force on Curved Surfaces (contd)

Exercise : A Trainer gate used to control water flow from a dam to a river is shown.
The gate width is 35 m. Determine the magnitude and line of action of the force
from the water acting on the gate.

20 m
10 m

http://www.discover-net.net/
~dchs/history/gate_ani.gif

http://www.ciltug.com
2-25