Math 2300: Calculus Spring 2019

Lecture 22: Wednesday February 13

Lecturer: Sarah Arpin

22.1 Hydrostatic Pressure

• Submerge a plate in water.
• Calculate the force that the water pressure exudes on the submerged plate.
• Pressure:
P =ρ·g·d
where ρ is the density of the fluid (water = 1000 kg/m3 ), g is gravitational acceleration = 9.81m/sec2 ,
and d is the number of meters below the surface.
• Force:
F = PA
but notice that the ”depth” measurement depends on how far down you are on the plate. This is
changing! This is where the integral comes in: We will sum the forces infinitesimal strips of area using
an integral.

22.1.1 Example

A circular plate of radius 2m is submerged 6 feet deep (measured from the top of the plate). Find the
hydrostatic force on the plate.
Solution

22-1
22-2 Lecture 22: Wednesday February 13

Setting up the axes is important.

Since we have a circle, we will have to deal with the equation for a circle. This equation is easiest when the
circle is centered at (0, 0), so let’s set up according to that.
Let’s calculate a typical strip of force: the rectangle represents a strip of area.
Notice that the strips I’m drawing will move vertically, so we’ll havve a dy integral.
q
Astrip = Length · width = 2 4 − yi2 ∆y

Pstrip = ρ · g · di = ρ · g · (8 − yi ) = 9810 · (8 − yi )
Fstrip = Pstrip · Astrip
The ”strips” are moving vertically, so we have a dy integral. They move from a y-value of −2 to a y-value
of 2. As we move to the infinitesimals, ∆y becomes dy.
This makes our integral:
Z 2 p Z 2 p
F = (9810)(8 − y)2 4 − y 2 dy = 19620 (8 − y) 4 − y 2 dy
−2 −2

Now we just have to integrate:

Z 2 p Z 2 p Z 2 p
19620 (8 − y) 4 − y 2 dy = 19620 8 4 − y 2 dy − 19620 y 4 − y 2 dy
−2 −2 −2
Z 2 p Z 2 p
= 156960 4− y 2 dy −19620 y 4 − y 2 dy
−2 −2
| {z } | {z }
Trig sub, or geometry U-sub
2
π(2)
= 156960 · −0
2
= 313920π