UNIVERSITY OF ZIMBABWE

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

NAME ………………. NYIKA BRIAN

REG NUMBER ………………. R169353U

LEVEL ………………. 2.1

DATE ………………. TUESDAY 12 SEPTEMBER 2017

LECTURER ………………. DR A. MHIZHA

PROGRAM ……………… HAE

EXPERIMENT 1: CENTRE OF PRESSURE
OBJECTIVE:
To locate the centre of pressure of an immersed rectangular surface and to compare this
position with that predicted by theory.
APPARATUS:
Apparatus was set up as below.

EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE:
1. The apparatus was placed in a splash tray and correctly levelled.
2. The rectangular surface was positioned with the face vertical and it was clamped.
3. The position of the movable jockey weight was adjusted until the balance arm was
horizontal
4. A mass of 50g was added to the hanger.
5. Water was added to the storage chamber until the system was brought almost to
equilibrium.
 6. Water was slowly removed from the storage chamber via the drain hole untsil
equilibrium was attained.
7. When equilibrium was attained the values of h1 and h2 were recorded.
8. The above procedure was repeated with 50g mass increments.
9. The following measurements were taken:
 The length (l) of the rectangular surface.
 The width (b) of the rectangular surface.
 The distance (r) from the pivot to the top of the surface.
 The distance (s) from the hanger to the pivot.
OBSERVATIONS:
Length of the rectangular surface, l = 100mm
Width of the rectangular surface, b = 75mm
Distance from the pivot to the top of the surface, r = 100mm
Distance from the hanger to the pivot, s = 275mm

Calculations
THEORETICAL DETERMINATION OF Xp
Icg
Xp = x́ +
A x́
Where:
x́ = distance from O to the centroid DC of the surface
I =2nd moment of area of the immersed surface about the horizontal axis through CG.

3
bl 3 (75)(100)
But I = = = 6.25 × 106
12 12
I 6.25× 106
Thus = = 833.33
A 100 ×75
833.33
Therefore theoretical Xp = x́ +
x́

EXPERIMENTAL DETERMINATION OF Xp
Xp = y - (r - h1)
 Mgs
But y =
F
Where F= ρghA
= (1000×9.81×h×0.1×0.075)
= 73.58h N
M × 9.81× 0.275
y=
73.58 h

M × 9.81× 0.275
Therefore Xp= – (0.1 – h1)
73.58 h
Table of results

Result h1 h2 h=x́ F lcg Xp M Y Xp

(mm) Ax
Number (mm) (mm) (N) theory (g) (mm) Exp
(mm)
(mm) (mm)

1 _ 47 -3 - - - 50 -
0.22 277.7 280.78 613.125
7
2 _ 67 17 1.25 49.02 66.02 100 215.82
3 _ 74 24 1.77 34.72 58.72 120 182.89

4 _ 88 38 2.80 21.93 59.93 170 163.79

5 14 114 64 4.70 13.02 77.02 270 154.98 70
6 26 126 76 5.59 10.96 86.96 320 154.43 80
7 39 139 89 6.55 9.36 98.36 370 152.39 91
8 51 151 101 7.43 8.25 109.25 420 152.50 103
9 53 153 103 7.58 8.09 111.09 430 153.04 106
10 55 155 105 7.73 7.94 112.94 435 151.81 107

11 56 156 106 7.80 7.86 113.86 440 152.18 108

12 59 159 109 8.02 7.64 116.64 450 151.37 110

ERRORS:
  When water was being poured into the chamber some went on top of
the rectangular surface thereby increasing the pressure on the rectangular
surface. The experiment might not have been accurate due to a number of
random errors. Some of them may be due to limitation of precision and
resolution of the instruments used. Other errors occurred due to misalignment.
These include the parallax error when determining the point of equilibrim.
 Systematic errors might have also occurred. The apparatus might have been
not correctly levelled. It might be worn out or incorrectly adjusted. Incorrect
measuring techniques can also cause errors.
CONCLUSION:
The experimental values for the centre of pressure are relatively close to those predicted from
theory since the differences are within the range of 7mm. These differences were due to
experimental errors.

When the surface is considered to be horizontal, the pressure is distributed uniformly across
the surface such the value of pressure force is the same on the top surface.