MECH1001 Fluid Mechanics

Exercise Sheet 2
1. A circular disc of glass ( = 2.2) is 3 mm thick. It has a diameter of 50 mm and a uniform layer of cork ( = 0.15) covers one face. Find the minimum thickness of the cork layer, which will prevent the disc from sinking in water. If the cork thickness is increased to 10 mm, how much cork will protrude above the water surface. Answer: 4.24 mm, 4.9 mm. 2. Determine the position adopted by a square slab of material of relative density 0.9, when floating completely immersed in a vessel containing two liquids, which do not mix and whose relative densities are 1.2 and 0.8. Answer: Liquid interface at 25% of slab thickness above the slab base. 3. A hollow cylinder with closed ends is 300 mm in diameter, 450 mm high, has a mass of 27 kg and has a small hole in the bottom. With its axial vertical, it is lowered slowly into water, and then released. Calculate a. The gauge pressure of the air inside it b. The height to which the water will rise within it c. The depth to which it will sink Disregard the effect of the thickness of the cylinder wall but assume that it is uniform and that the compression of the air inside is isothermal. Answer: 3.747 kPa, 16.04 mm, 398 mm. 4. A rigid spherical balloon of diameter 800 mm, which is filled with helium, has carried meteorological instruments to a height of 6000 m above sea level. The mass of the balloon envelope is 0.1 kg and the mass of the instruments, whose volume may be considered negligible, is 0.06 kg. Assume that the balloon did not expand during its ascent, that atmospheric temperature decreases with increasing altitude at a uniform rate of 0.0065 K/m and that the temperature at sea level is 15C. Determine from first principles, the mass of helium in the balloon. Answer: 16.9 g 5. Figure 1 shows a section through a rectangular gate of height 5a and width a, which seals a hole of the same size and shape in a vertical partition in a tank. The gate is pivoted about a horizontal axis through O. The tank contains liquid of density ; on the left-hand side, its free surface is at a height c above the pivot (c > 3a); on the right-hand side, the free surface is level with the pivot. Both surfaces are exposed to atmospheric pressure. Working from first principles, derive expressions for the force on the gate and the moment exerted about the pivot. Answer: F ga 2 5c 9a / 2 , M ga 3 9a 5c / 2

MECH1001 Fluid Mechanics

patm

c 3a patm 2a
Figure 1

6. The gate, formed from two rectangular elements, which are rigidly joined to each other and hinged in O as shown in figure 2, will open automatically, when the liquid level h reaches a given value. Show that this occurs when h > b 3 .

patm

h O b

patm

Figure 2

7. A circular gate of radius a in the vertical wall of a tank is hinged about a horizontal axis through its centre. The free surface of the liquid in the tank is a distance s above the gate centre (s > a) and both the free surface and the other side of the gate are exposed to atmospheric pressure. Derive expressions for the force on the gate and the moment exerted about the hinge and show that the moment is independent of the liquid depth. Answer: F ga 2 s , M ga 4 / 4

MECH1001 Fluid Mechanics

8. A steel sphere for which = 7.8 has a diameter of 30 mm. Find its weight in air and in water. ( steel 7850 kg/m3, water 1000 kg/m3, air 1.23 kg/m3). Answer: 1.082 N, 0.943 N. 9. An object weight 10 N in air and 8 N when immersed in water. Determine its relative density. Answer: 5