College of Engineering and Computer Science

Mechanical Engineering Department

Mechanical Engineering 390
Fluid Mechanics
Spring 2008 Number: 11971
Instructor: Larry Caretto

February 5 Homework Solutions

2.5 Bourdon gages (see Video V2.2 and Fig.
2.13) are commonly used to measure
pressure. When such a gage is attached
to the closed water tank of Fig. P2.5
(copied from the text at the right), the
gage reads 5 psi. What is the absolute
pressure in the tank? Assume standard
atmospheric pressure of 14.7 psia.

The absolute pressure at the gage is is 5 psi + 14.7

psi = 19.7 psia. The fact that the gage is 6 in above
the measuring line is irrelevant. The only difference
in depth that contributes the pressure at the gage is
the 12 in difference between the gage level and the
air. Thus we can write that pair = 19.7 psia + water(12
in). Using water = 62.4 lbf/ft3 from Table 1-5 on the
inside front cover gives the following result for the
air pressure.

19.7 lb f 62.4 lb f ft 3
p air   12 in 
in 2 ft 3 1728 in 3

pair = 20.1 psia

2.11 In a certain liquid at rest measurements of the specific weight at various

depths show the following variation:

h(ft) 0 10 20 30 40 5 60 70 80 90 100
lb f
 70 76 84 91 97 102 107 110 112 114 115
ft 3
The depth, h = 0, corresponds to a free surface at atmospheric pressure.
Determine, through numerical integration of Eq. 2.4, the corresponding
variation in pressure and show the results on a plot of pressure (in psf)
versus depth (in feet).

Jacaranda (Engineering) 3333 Mail Code Phone: 818.677.6448

E-mail: lcaretto@csun.edu 8348 Fax: 818.677.7062
 z

We have to numerically integrate dp/dz = - or p = p0 –  dz , where p 0 = 0 (given).

z0
b N 1
x  
We can use a simple trapezoid rule  f ( x) dx   f  a  2
2 
 f  a  kx   f  b   where
a k 1 
N = (b – a)/x.

In this problem the variable of integration is z and the step size, z = –10 ft. The
values of f(z) are the specific weight taken from the table. Some example
integrations give the following results:

 10 ft  lb f lb f  lb f
p10 ft  0 70 3  76 3   730 2
2  ft ft  ft

 10 ft  lb f  lb f  lb f  lb f
p 20 ft  0 70 3  2 76 3   84 3   1540 2
2  ft  ft  ft  ft

 10 ft  lb f  lb f lb f  lb f  lb f
p30 ft  0 70 3  2 76 3  84 3   91 3   2405 2
2  ft  ft ft  ft  ft

The complete results and graph, done in Excel, are shown below.

h(ft)  (lbf/ft3) p (psf)

0 70 0
10 76 730
20 84 1530
30 91 2405
40 97 3345
50 102 4340
60 107 5385
70 110 6470
80 112 7580
90 114 8710
100 115 9855

Jacaranda (Engineering) 3333 Mail Code Phone: 818.677.6448

E-mail: lcaretto@csun.edu 8348 Fax: 818.677.7062
 February 5 homework solutions Page 3
ME 390, L. S. Caretto, Spring 2008

2.26 A U-tube manometer contains oil, mercury,

and water as shown in Fig. P2.26 (copied at
the right). For the column heights indicated
what is the pressure differential between
pipes A and B?

We see that there is a line of equal pressure near

the bottom of the U-tube at the lower arrow for the
dimension of the 12 in. Designating the two equal
pressures on either side of the manometer at this
point as pleft and pright allows us to write the following
equations.

pleft  p A   oil  7 in    Hg 12 in 

 pright  p B   H 2O  3 in  12 in 

Take the data for specific weights from table 1-5 on the inside front cover (assuming
the oil is SAE 30 weight oil and ignoring differences in temperature) are water = 62.4
lbf/ft3, Hg = 847 lbf/ft3, and oil = 57.0 lbf/ft3. Rearranging the equation to solve for pB
– pA and substituting the data gives.

p B  p A   oil  7 in    Hg 12 in    H 2O  3 in  12 in 
 57.0 lb f 847 lb f 62.4 lb f  ft 3 psia  in 2
 3
 7 in    12 in    15 in  
 ft ft 3 ft 3  1728 in
3 1 lb f

pB – pA = 5.57 psi

2.40 The differential mercury manometer

of Fig. P2.40 (copied at the right) is
connected to pipe A containing
gasoline (SG = 0.65), and to pipe B
containing water. Determine the
differential reading, h,
p2
corresponding to a pressure in A of
20 kPa and a vacuum of 150 torr
[use torr instead of mm Hg] in B.

Call the pressure at the gasoline-mercury

interface p1 and the pressure at the p1
water-mercury interface p2. The
difference between these two pressures
is due to the column of mercury with
height h.

p1  p 2   Hg h

We can relate p1 and p2 to the pressures in A and B as follows.

p1  p A   gasol  h  0.3 m  p B  p 2   water  h  0.3 m 

February 5 homework solutions Page 4
ME 390, L. S. Caretto, Spring 2008

Combining the two equations above gives the following expression for pA – pB:

p A  p B  p1  p 2   water  h  0.3 m    gasol  h  0.3 m 

From the first equation we have p1 – p2 = Hgh. Substituting this result into the
equation above for pA – pB gives.

p A  p B   Hg h   water  h  0.3 m    gasol  h  0.3 m  

  Hg   water   gasol h   0.3 m   water   gasol 
Solving this equation for h gives


p A  p B   0.3 m   water   gasol 
h
 Hg   water   gasol

The data for specific weights of water and mercury are taken from table 1-6 on the
inside front cover (ignoring differences in temperature): water = 9.80 kN/m3 and Hg
=133 kN/m3. The gasoline has a specific gravity of 0.65 and, assuming that its
reference specific weight is that of water just found, we find the gasoline specific
weight as (SG)(water) = (0.65)(9.80 kN/m3) = 6.37 kN/m3.

The pressure in A is a gage pressure. The pressure in B is given as a vacuum of 150

mm Hg. A vacuum is the difference between the atmospheric pressure and the
absolute pressure. By definition, pvacuum = patmospheric – pabsolute and pgage = –pvacuum. Thus
the 150 torr vacuum is a gage pressure of –(150 torr)(101.325 kPa)/(760 torr) = –
20.00 kPa. Substituting this pressure for pB, the given value of pA = 20 kPa, and the
specific weight data from the previous paragraph into the equation for h gives

h

p A  p B   0.3 m   water   gasol 
 Hg   water   gasol

kN  9.81 kN 6.37 kN 
 20 kPa    20 kPa     0.3 m    
kPa  m 2  m3 m3 
133 kN 9.81 kN 6.37 kN
 
m3 m3 m3
h = 0.384 m
 February 5 homework solutions Page 5
ME 390, L. S. Caretto, Spring 2008

2.42 The manometer fluid in the manometer of

Fig. P2.42 (copied at the right) has a specific
gravity of 3.46. Pipes A and B both contain
water. If the pressure in pipe A is decreased
by 1.3 psi and the pressure in pipe B
increases by 0.9 psi, determine the new
differential reading of the manometer.

There is a common pressure on both sides of the

manometer at the point of the lower water-gage-
fluid interface. Writing the two equal pressures at
this point in terms of the pressures in A and B
gives the following equations.

pleft  p A   water hwater ,left   gage h gage

 p right  p B   water hwater ,rigfht

For the configuration shown above, hwater,left = 2 ft, hgage = 2 ft, and hwater,right = 1 ft. We
can solve this equation for pB – pA to obtain the following result.

p B  p A   water hwater ,left   gage hgage   water hwater ,right

Use the specific weight of water as 62.4 lbf/ft3 from Table 1-5 on the inside front cover
for both the value of water and the reference specific weight for the gage fluid. This
gives the specific weight of the gage fluid as (3.46)(62.4 lbf/ft3) = 215.9 lbf/ft3.
Substituting these values and the original gage readings into the equation for p B – pA
gives

62.4 lb f 215.9 lb f 62.4 lb f 494.2 lb f

pB  p A  3
 2 ft   3
 2 ft   3
1 ft  
ft ft ft ft 2

The new value of pB – pA is found as follows.

 p B  p A  new  p B,old  p B   p A,old  p A    p B  p A  old  p B  p A

494.2 lb f 0.9 lb f 144 in 2  1.3 lb f 144 in 2 811 .0 lb f
   
ft 2 in 2 ft 2 in 2 ft 2 ft 2

With the increased value of pB, the water-gage-fluid interface on the left will become
lower by a value of h so that the new value of hwater,left will become 1 ft + h. This
change will be reflected throughout the manometer system. The water-gage-fluid
interface on the right will rise by the same value h so that hwater,righy becomes 2 ft –
h. Both of these differences will change the height of the gage fluid by 2h to a new
value of hgage = 2 ft + 2h. Substituting these new values of the gage heights and
the new value of pB – pA into the original equation for pB – pA gives

811.0 lb f 62.4 lb f 215.9 lb f 62.4 lb f

 p B  p A  new  2
 3
2 ft  h   3
2 ft  2h   1 ft  h 
ft ft ft ft 3
 February 5 homework solutions Page 6
ME 390, L. S. Caretto, Spring 2008

The products of specific weights and heights on the right-side of the equation are
seen to be simply the original values for pB – pA = 494.2 lbf/ft2. This gives the
following steps for obtaining h.

811 .0 lb f 494.2 lb f 316.8 lb f  215.9 lb f 62.4 lb f 62.4 lb f  215.9 lb f

   h 2     h
ft 2 ft 2 ft 2  ft 3 ft 3 ft 3  ft 3
 

Solving this equation gives h = 1.03 ft. Adding two times this value to the original
value of hgage = 2 ft gives the required answer.

hgage,new = 4.06 ft

2.46 Determine the change

in elevation of the
mercury in the left leg
of the manometer of
Fig. P2.46 (copied at
the right) as a result of
an increase in pressure
of 5 psi in pipe A while
the pressure in pipe B
remains constant.

The mercury pressures are

equal at the mercury-water interface and the point in the incline that is at the same level as this
interface. These two equal pressures can be written as follows. (In this equation we use a
variable height for the following distances in the diagram: h water= 18 in, hoil = 12 in, and ℓHg = 6 in =
the difference between the water-mercury and the oil-mrecury interfaces.)

pleft  p A   water hwater  p right  p B   oil hoil   Hg  Hg sin 30 o

Solving for the pressure difference gives

p A  p B   oil hoil   Hg  Hg sin 30 o   water hwater

When the pressure in A increases to pA,new, the water-mercury interface will drop by a value h
and the mercury-oil interface will rise a distance, ℓ along the inclined length. These changes will
cause hwater to increase by h and hoil to decrease by ℓ sin30o. The vertical difference in the
mercury column will increase by the sum of h and ℓ sin30o. Even with all these changes we will
still have the same relationship between the pressure difference and manometer measurements.
This will give the equation below.

     
p A,new  p B   oil hoil  sin 30 o   Hg h   Hg   sin 30 o   water  hwater  h 

If we subtract the equation for the original pressure difference from this equation we obtain the
following result for the increase in pressure in A.

 
p A,new  p A    oil sin 30 o   Hg h  sin 30 o   water h

We appear to have two unknowns, h and ℓ. However these two are related because the
volume of the mercury is constant. When the mercury drops by a height change of h, a volume
February 5 homework solutions Page 7
ME 390, L. S. Caretto, Spring 2008

of mercury equal to rwater2 is displaced from the vertical tube to the inclined tube. The volume, V,
of fluid in an cylinder inclined at an angle  with the horizontal plane is given by the equation V =
r2(ℓ + r/tan), where ℓ is the distance from the bottom of the cylinder to the closest location of the
inclined plane.1 If the value of ℓ is changed by ℓ, keeping r and  constant, the difference in
volume is simply r2ℓ, just as it would be for a vertical cylinder. Equating the two displaced
volumes gives the following relationship between h and ℓ.

2 2
2 2  rHg   0.125 in  
rwater h  rHg   h     
  
 rwater   0.25 in  4

Before substituting this result into our equation for the pressure change, we have to get the
necessary data. Table 1-5 in the inside front cover gives the values for water = 62.4 lbf/ft3 and Hg =
847 lbf/ft3. The oil has a specific gravity of 0.9 so we find its specific weight using the value of
water = 62.4 lbf/ft3 just found: oil = 0.9(62.4 lbf/ft3)r = 56.16 lbf/ft3. We can now substitute the
equation h = ℓ/4 into the pressure increase equation, set sin30 o to its value of 0.5, and
substitute the specific weights just obtained to get the solution for h.

  
p A,new  p A    oil 4h sin 30o   Hg h  4h sin 30 o   water   2 oil  3 Hg   water h
144 lb f
 5 psi 
p A,new  p A psi  ft 2
h    0.304 ft
2  Hg  2  oil   water 847 lb f 56.16 lb f 62.4 lb f
3 2 
ft 3 ft 3 ft 3

The mercury level drops 0.304 ft.

1
Taken from http://www.lmnoeng.com/Volume/InclinedCyl.htm web site accessed January 19,
2008.