Forces on Submerged Planes

In the design of submerged devices and objects, such as dams,

flow barriers, ships, and holding tanks, it is necessary to
calculate the magnitudes and locations of forces that act on
their surfaces, both plane and curved.
Here, we consider
only plane surfaces,
such as the plane
surface of general
shape shown in the
Fig. Note that a side
view is given as
well as a view
showing the shape
of the plane.
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Forces on Submerged Planes

The total force of the liquid on the plane surface is found by
integrating the pressure over the area, that is,
The x and y coordinates are
in the plane of the plane
surface, as shown. Assuming
p = 0 at h = 0, we know that

where h is measured vertically

down from the free surface to the
elemental area dA and y is
measured from point 0 on the free
surface.
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Forces on Submerged Planes

The force may then be expressed as

The distance to a
centroid is defined as

The expression for the

force then becomes

Forces on Submerged Planes

Where is the vertical

distance from the free
surface to the centroid
of the area and pc is the
pressure at the centroid.

Thus the magnitude of the force on a submerged plane surface

is the pressure at the centroid multiplied by the area.
The force does not depend on the angle of inclination, a.

Forces on Submerged Planes

The force does not, in
general, act at the
centroid. The location
of the resultant force is
found by taking the
sum of the moments of
all the infinitesimal
pressure forces acting
on the area equal to the
moment of the resultant
force.
Let the force F act at the point (xp,yp), the center of pressure
(c.p.).
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Forces on Submerged Planes

The value of yp can be
obtained by equating
moments about the xaxis:

where the second moment of the area about the x-axis is

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Forces on Submerged Planes

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