PRESSURE AND FLUID

STATICS

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 Photo by Susan Dawson. Used by permission.
John Ninomiya flying a cluster of 72 helium-filled balloons over Temecula,
California in April of 2003. The helium balloons displace approximately 230
m3 of air, providing the necessary buoyant force. Don’t try this at home!
©McGraw-Hill Education.
 Objectives

• Determine the variation of pressure in a fluid at rest

• Calculate pressure using various kinds of manometers
• Calculate the forces exerted by a fluid at rest on plane or
curved submerged surfaces
• Analyze the stability of floating and submerged bodies
• Analyze the rigid-body motion of fluids in containers
during linear acceleration or rotation

©McGraw-Hill Education.
 3–1 ■ PRESSURE

Pressure: A normal force exerted by a fluid per unit area

1 Pa = 1 N/m 2 pascal

1 bar = 105 Pa = 0.1 MPa = 100 kPa

1 atm = 101,325 Pa = 101.325 kPa = 1.01325 bars
1 kgf/cm 2 = 9.807 N/cm 2 = 9.807 ´ 104 N/m 2 = 9.807 ´ 10 4 Pa
= 0.9807 bar
= 0.9679 atm

©McGraw-Hill Education.
 © Ashcroft Inc. Used by permission.
Some basic pressure gages.

The normal stress (or “pressure”) on the

feet of a chubby person is much greater
than on the feet of a slim person.
©McGraw-Hill Education.
 Absolute pressure: The actual pressure at a given position. It is
measured relative to absolute vacuum (i.e., absolute zero pressure).
Gage pressure: The difference between the absolute pressure and the
local atmospheric pressure. Most pressure-measuring devices are
calibrated to read zero in the atmosphere, and so they indicate gage
pressure.
Vacuum pressures: Pressures below atmospheric pressure.

Throughout
this text, the
Pgage = Pabs - Patm
pressure P will Pvac = Patm - Pabs
denote
absolute
pressure
unless
specified
otherwise.

©McGraw-Hill Education.
 Pressure at a Point
Pressure is the compressive force per unit area but it is not a
vector.
Pressure at any point in a fluid is the same in all directions.
Pressure has magnitude but not a specific direction, and thus it
is a scalar quantity.

Pressure is a scalar
quantity, not a vector; the
pressure at a point in a
fluid is the same in all
directions.
©McGraw-Hill Education.
 å Fx = max = 0 : P1 DyDz - P3 Dyl sin q = 0
1
å Fz = maz = 0 : P2 DyDx - P3 Dyl cos q - r g Dx Dy Dz = 0
2
W = mg = r g Dx Dy Dz /2
Dz = l sin q
Dx = l cos q
P1 - P3 = 0
1
P2 - P3 - r g Dz = 0
2
P1 = P2 = P3 = P

Forces acting on a
wedge-shaped fluid
element in equilibrium.

©McGraw-Hill Education.
 DP = P2 - P1 = - r g Dz = -g s Dz Variation of Pressure
Pbelow = Pabove + r g Dz = Pabove + g s Dz with Depth
2
P = Patm + r gh or Pgage = r gh DP = P2 - P1 = - ò r g dz
1

When the variation of density

with elevation is known

The pressure of a fluid at

rest increases with depth (as Free-body diagram of a rectangular
a result of added weight). fluid element in equilibrium.
©McGraw-Hill Education.
 Pressure in a liquid at rest
increases linearly with
In a room filled with a gas, the variation distance from the free
of pressure with height is negligible. surface.

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 The pressure is the same at all points on a horizontal plane in a given fluid
regardless of geometry, provided that the points are interconnected by the
same fluid.

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©McGraw-Hill Education.
 Pascal’s law: The F1 F2 F2 A2
pressure applied to a P1 = P2 ® = ® =
confined fluid
A1 A2 F1 A1
increases the
pressure throughout
by the same amount.

The area ratio A2/A1 is

called the ideal
mechanical advantage
of the hydraulic lift.

(Top) © Stockbyte/Getty Images RF

Lifting of a large
weight by a small
force by the
application of
Pascal’s law.

©McGraw-Hill Education.
 3–2 ■ PRESSURE MEASUREMENT DEVICES
The Barometer
Atmospheric pressure is measured
Patm = r gh
by a device called a barometer.
The atmospheric pressure is often
referred to as the barometric
pressure.
A frequently used pressure unit is
the standard atmosphere, which is
defined as the pressure produced
by a column of mercury 760 mm in
height at 0°C (rHg = 13,595 kg/m3)
under standard gravitational
acceleration (g = 9.807 m/s2).

The basic
barometer.
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 The length or the cross-
sectional area of the
tube has no effect on the
height of the fluid
column of a barometer,
provided that the tube
diameter is large
enough to avoid surface
tension (capillary)
effects.

©McGraw-Hill Education.
 At high altitudes, a car engine generates
less power and a person gets less oxygen
because of the lower density of air.

©McGraw-Hill Education.
 The Manometer
It is commonly used to measure small and moderate
pressure differences. A manometer contains one or more
fluids such as mercury, water, alcohol, or oil.

P2 = Patm + r gh

The basic
manometer.

©McGraw-Hill Education.
 Some manometers use a
slanted or inclined tube in order
to increase the resolution
(precision) when reading the
fluid height.
Such devices are called
inclined manometers.
Photo by John M. Cimbala.

A simple U-tube
manometer, with
high pressure
applied to the right
side.
©McGraw-Hill Education.
 In stacked-up fluid layers, the
pressure change across a
fluid layer of density r and
height h is rgh.

Patm + r1 gh1 + r2 gh2 + r3 gh3 = P1

©McGraw-Hill Education.
 Measuring the
pressure drop across a
flow section or a flow
device by a differential
manometer.

P1 + r1 g (a + h) - r2 gh - r1 ga = P2

P1 - P2 = (r2 - r1 ) gh

©McGraw-Hill Education.
 Other Pressure Measurement Devices
Bourdon tube: Consists of a hollow metal
tube bent like a hook whose end is closed and
connected to a dial indicator needle.
Pressure transducers: Use various
techniques to convert the pressure effect to an
electrical effect such as a change in voltage,
resistance, or capacitance.
Pressure transducers are smaller and faster,
and they can be more sensitive, reliable, and

(Bottom) Photo by John M. Cimbala.

precise than their mechanical counterparts.
Strain-gage pressure transducers: Work by
having a diaphragm deflect between two
chambers open to the pressure inputs.
Piezoelectric transducers: Also called solid-
state pressure transducers, work on the
principle that an electric potential is generated
Various types of Bourdon
in a crystalline substance when it is subjected tubes used to measure
to mechanical pressure. pressure.
©McGraw-Hill Education.
 Deadweight tester: Another type of mechanical pressure gage. It is used
primarily for calibration and can measure extremely high pressures.
A deadweight tester measures pressure directly through application of a
weight that provides a force per unit area.
It is constructed with an internal chamber filled with a fluid (usually oil), along
with a tight-fitting piston, cylinder, and plunger.
Weights are applied to the top of the piston, which exerts a force on the oil in
the chamber. The total force F acting on the oil at the piston–oil interface is
the sum of the weight of the piston plus the applied weights.

A deadweight tester is
able to measure
extremely high pressures
(up to 10,000 psi in some
applications).
©McGraw-Hill Education.
 3–3 ■ INTRODUCTION TO FLUID STATICS

Fluid statics: Deals with problems associated with fluids at rest.

The fluid can be either gaseous or liquid.
Hydrostatics: When the fluid is a liquid.
Aerostatics: When the fluid is a gas.
In fluid statics, there is no relative motion between adjacent fluid
layers, and thus there are no shear (tangential) stresses in the fluid
trying to deform it.
The only stress we deal with in fluid statics is the normal stress, which
is the pressure, and the variation of pressure is due only to the weight
of the fluid.
The topic of fluid statics has significance only in gravity fields.
The design of many engineering systems such as water dams and
liquid storage tanks requires the determination of the forces acting on
the surfaces using fluid statics.
©McGraw-Hill Education.
 3–4 ■ HYDROSTATIC
FORCES ON SUBMERGED
PLANE SURFACES
A plate, such as a gate valve in
a dam, the wall of a liquid
storage tank, or the hull of a ship
at rest, is subjected to fluid
pressure distributed over its
surface when exposed to a
liquid.

© Comstock Images/Jupiterimages RF
On a plane surface, the
hydrostatic forces form a system
of parallel forces, and we often
need to determine the
magnitude of the force and its
point of application, which is
called the center of pressure.
Hoover Dam.
©McGraw-Hill Education.
 When analyzing
hydrostatic forces on
submerged surfaces,
the atmospheric
pressure can be
subtracted for simplicity
when it acts on both
sides of the structure.

©McGraw-Hill Education.
 Hydrostatic force on an inclined plane surface completely submerged in a liquid.

P = P0 + r gh = P0 + r gy sin q
1
FR = ò P dA = ò ( P0 + r gy sin q ) dA = P0 A + r g sin q yC = ò y dA
A A ò A
ydA A A
FR = ( P0 + r gyC sin q ) A = ( P0 + r ghC ) A = PC A = Pavg A PC = P0 + r ghC
©McGraw-Hill Education.
 3–4 ■ HYDROSTATIC FORCES ON
SUBMERGED PLANE SURFACES (3)

The pressure at the

centroid of a surface is
equivalent to the
average pressure on
the surface.

©McGraw-Hill Education.
 The resultant force acting on a
plane surface is equal to the
product of the pressure at the
centroid of the surface and the
surface area, and its line of
action passes through the
center of pressure.

FR = PC A

I xx ,C
yP = yC +
[ yC + P0 /(r g sin q )]A
I xx ,C second moment of area
yP = yC + I xx ,O = ò y 2 dA (area moment of inertia)
yC A A
about the x-axis.

hP = yP sin q I xx ,O = I xx ,C + yC2 A

©McGraw-Hill Education.
 The centroid and the centroidal moments of inertia for some
common geometries.
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 Pressure acts normal to the surface,
and the hydrostatic forces acting on a
flat plate of any shape form a volume
whose base is the plate area and
whose length is the linearly varying
pressure.
This virtual pressure prism has an
interesting physical interpretation: its
volume is equal to the magnitude of the
resultant hydrostatic force acting on the
plate since FR = ò PdA, and the line of
action of this force passes through the
centroid of this homogeneous prism.
The projection of the centroid on the
plate is the pressure center.
Therefore, with the concept of pressure
prism, the problem of describing the The hydrostatic forces acting on a
resultant hydrostatic force on a plane plane surface form a pressure prism
surface reduces to finding the volume whose base (left face) is the surface
and the two coordinates of the centroid and whose length is the pressure.
of this pressure prism.
©McGraw-Hill Education.
 Special Case:
Submerged
Rectangular Plate

Hydrostatic force acting

on the top surface of a
submerged tilted
rectangular plate.

b ab3 /12
yP = s + +
2 [ s + b /2 + P0 /( r g sin q )]ab
b b2
= s+ +
2 12[ s + b /2 + P0 /( r g sin q )]

Tilted rectangular plate: FR = PC A = [ P0 + r g ( s + b /2) sin q ]ab

Tilted rectangular plate ( s = 0): FR = [ P0 + r g (b sin q )/2]ab
©McGraw-Hill Education.
 Hydrostatic force
acting on the top
surface of a
submerged vertical
rectangular plate.

Vertical rectangular plate: FR = [ P0 + r g ( s + b /2)]ab

Vertical rectangular plate ( s = 0): FR = ( P0 + r gb /2)ab

©McGraw-Hill Education.
 Hydrostatic force acting
on the top surface of a
submerged horizontal
rectangular plate.

Horizontal rectangular plate: FR = ( P0 + r gh)ab

©McGraw-Hill Education.
 3–5 ■ HYDROSTATIC FORCES ON
SUBMERGED CURVED SURFACES

FR = FH2 + FV2 a = FV /FH

Determination of the hydrostatic force acting on a submerged curved surface.
Horizontal force component on curved surface: FH = Fx
Vertical force component on curved surface: FV = Fy ± W
©McGraw-Hill Education.
 In many structures of
practical application,
the submerged
surfaces are not flat,
but curved as here at
Glen Canyon Dam in
Utah and Arizona.
© Corbis RF

©McGraw-Hill Education.
 When a curved surface is above the
liquid, the weight of the liquid and the
vertical component of the hydrostatic
force act in the opposite directions.
©McGraw-Hill Education.
The hydrostatic force acting on a circular
surface always passes through the center
of the circle since the pressure forces are
normal to the surface and they all pass
through the center.
 in a multilayered fluid of different densities can be determined by
considering different parts of surfaces in different fluids as different
surfaces, finding the force on each part, and then adding them using
vector addition. For a plane surface, it can be expressed as
Plane surface in a multilayered fluid : FR = å FR , i = å PC , i Ai

PC , i = P0 + ri ghC , i

The hydrostatic force on a surface

submerged in a multilayered fluid
can be determined by considering
parts of the surface in different
fluids as different surfaces.
©McGraw-Hill Education.
 3–6 ■ BUOYANCY AND STABILITY
Buoyant force: The upward force a fluid exerts on a body immersed in it.
The buoyant force is caused by the increase of pressure with depth in a fluid.

The buoyant force acting on

the plate is equal to the
weight of the liquid displaced
by the plate.
For a fluid with constant
density, the buoyant force is
independent of the distance
of the body from the free
surface.
It is also independent of the
density of the solid body.
A flat plate of uniform thickness h submerged
in a liquid parallel to the free surface.
FB = Fbottom - Ftop = rf g ( s + h) A - rf gsA = rf ghA = rf gV
©McGraw-Hill Education.
 The buoyant forces acting on a
solid body submerged in a fluid and
on a fluid body of the same shape
at the same depth are identical.
The buoyant force FB acts upward
through the centroid C of the
displaced volume and is equal in
magnitude to the weight W of the
displaced fluid, but is opposite in
direction. For a solid of uniform
density, its weight Ws also acts
through the centroid, but its
magnitude is not necessarily equal
to that of the fluid it displaces.
(Here Ws > W and thus Ws > FB;
this solid body would sink.)

Archimedes’ principle: The buoyant force acting

on a body immersed in a fluid is equal to the weight
of the fluid displaced by the body, and it acts upward
through the centroid of the displaced volume.
©McGraw-Hill Education.
 For floating bodies, the weight of the entire body must be equal to the
buoyant force, which is the weight of the fluid whose volume is equal to
the volume of the submerged portion of the floating body:

Vsub ravg, body

FB = W ® rf gVsub = ravg, body gVtotal ® =
Vtotal rf

A solid body dropped into

a fluid will sink, float, or
remain at rest at any point
in the fluid, depending on
its average density
relative to the density of
the fluid.
©McGraw-Hill Education.
 For a body floating on the surface of a liquid, the total weight of the body
must be less than that of the liquid it displaces.
A portion of the body volume is submerged, while the remaining portion is
positioned above the surface of the liquid. Since the system is stationary,
the two vertical forces W and FB must still balance.
For a body of known weight W, we see that as the liquid density rf
increases, a smaller percentage of the body volume is submerged.
W = FB = rf gVsubmerged ® Vsubmerged = W /rf g

The density of the water in

Photo by Andy Cimbala. Used with permission.

the Dead Sea is about 24%
higher than that of pure
water. Therefore, people
float much more easily (with
more of their bodies above
the water) in the Dead Sea
than in fresh water or in
normal seawater.
©McGraw-Hill Education.
 The altitude of a hot air
balloon is controlled by the
temperature difference
between the air inside and
outside the balloon, since
warm air is less dense than
cold air. When the balloon
is neither rising nor falling,
the upward buoyant force
exactly balances the
downward weight.
© PhotoLink/Getty Images RF

©McGraw-Hill Education.
 Stability of Immersed and
Floating Bodies

Stability is easily
understood by
analyzing a ball
on the floor.
© Corbis RF

For floating bodies such as ships, stability

is an important consideration for safety.
©McGraw-Hill Education.
 A floating body possesses vertical
stability, while an immersed neutrally
buoyant body is neutrally stable since it
does not return to its original position
after a disturbance.

An immersed neutrally buoyant

body is (a) stable if the center of
gravity G is directly below the
center of buoyancy B of the body,
(b) neutrally stable if G and B are
coincident, and (c) unstable if G is
directly above B.

©McGraw-Hill Education.
 A ball in a trough between
two hills is stable for small
disturbances, but unstable
for large disturbances.
When the center of gravity G of an immersed
neutrally buoyant body is not vertically
aligned with the center of buoyancy B of the
body, it is not in an equilibrium state and
would rotate to its stable state, even without
any disturbance.

©McGraw-Hill Education.
 3–6 ■ BUOYANCY AND STABILITY (8)

A floating body is stable if the body is bottom-heavy and thus the center of
gravity G is below the centroid B of the body, or if the metacenter M is
above point G. However, the body is unstable if point M is below point G.
Metacentric height GM: The distance between the center of gravity G and
the metacenter M—the intersection point of the lines of action of the
buoyant force through the body before and after rotation.
The length of the metacentric height GM above G is a measure of the
stability: the larger it is, the more stable is the floating body.
©McGraw-Hill Education.
 3–7 ■ FLUIDS IN RIGID-BODY MOTION
Pressure at a given point has the
same magnitude in all directions,
and thus it is a scalar function.
In this section we obtain relations
for the variation of pressure in fluids
moving like a solid body with or
without acceleration in the absence
of any shear stresses (i.e., no
motion between fluid layers relative
to each other).
® ®
d F = dm × a
d m = r dV = r dx dy dz
æ ¶P dz ö æ ¶P dz ö ¶P
d FS , z = çP- ÷ø dx dy - çè P + ÷ø dx dy = - dx dy dz
è ¶z 2 ¶z 2 ¶z
¶P ¶P
d FS , x =- dx dy dz and d FS , y = - dx dy dz
¶x ¶y
©McGraw-Hill Education.
 ® ® ® ®
d FS = d FS , x i + d FS , y j + d FS , z k
æ ¶P ® ¶P ® ¶P ® ö ®
= -ç i+ j+ k ÷ dx dy dz = - ÑP dx dy dz
è ¶x ¶y ¶z ø
® ¶P ® ¶P ® ¶P ®
ÑP = i+ j+ k
¶x ¶y ¶z
® ® ®
d FB , z = - gd mk = - r g dx dy dzk
® ® ® ® ®
d F = d FS + d FB = -(ÑP + r g k ) dx dy dz
® ® ®
Rigid -body motion of fluids: ÑP + r g k = - r a

¶P ® ¶P ® ¶P ® ® ® ® ®
i+ j+ k + r g k = - r (ax i + a y j + a z k )
¶x ¶y ¶z
¶P ¶P ¶P
Accelerating fluids: = - ra x , = - ra y , and = - r ( g + az )
¶x ¶y ¶z
©McGraw-Hill Education.
 Taylor series expansion of f
from point a to some nearby
point x. As x gets small, it is
common to truncate the
series to first order, keeping
only the first two terms on
the right side.

©McGraw-Hill Education.
 Special Case 1: Fluids at Rest
For fluids at rest or moving on a straight path at constant velocity, all
components of acceleration are zero, and the relations reduce to
¶P ¶P dP
Fluids at rest: = 0, = 0, and = -rg
¶x ¶y dz
The pressure remains constant in any
horizontal direction (P is independent of
x and y) and varies only in the vertical
direction as a result of gravity [and thus
P = P(z)]. These relations are applicable

© Imagestate Media (John Foxx)/Imagestate RF

for both compressible and
incompressible fluids.

A glass of water at rest is a special

case of a fluid in rigid-body motion. If
the glass of water were moving at
constant velocity in any direction, the
hydrostatic equations would still apply.
©McGraw-Hill Education.
 Special Case 2: Free Fall of a Fluid Body
A freely falling body accelerates under the influence of gravity.
When the air resistance is negligible, the acceleration of the
body equals the gravitational acceleration, and acceleration in
any horizontal direction is zero.
Therefore, ax = ay = 0 and az = −g

¶P ¶P ¶P
Free - falling fluids: = = =0 ® P = constant
¶x ¶y ¶ z

In a frame of reference moving with the fluid, it behaves like it is

in an environment with zero gravity. Also, the gage pressure in a
drop of liquid in free fall is zero throughout.

©McGraw-Hill Education.
 The effect of
acceleration on the
pressure of a liquid
during free fall and
upward
acceleration.

©McGraw-Hill Education.
 Acceleration on a Straight Path
¶P ¶P ¶P
= - ra x , = 0, and = - r( g + az )
¶x ¶y ¶z

P = P ( x, z ) dP = (¶P /¶x) dx + (¶P /¶z ) dz

dP = - rax dx - r( g + az ) dz
Rigid-body motion of a liquid in
P2 - P1 = - rax ( x2 - x1 ) - r( g + az )( z2 - z1 ) a linearly accelerating tank.

Pressure at a point: P = P0 - rax x - r( g + az ) z

The system in the figure behaves like a fluid at rest except that g − a
replaces g in the hydrostatic equations.

©McGraw-Hill Education.
 Lines of constant pressure
(which are the projections of the
surfaces of constant pressure on
the xz-plane) in a linearly
accelerating liquid. Also shown is
the vertical rise.

Vertical rise of surface:

ax
Dzs = zs 2 - zs1 = - ( x2 - x1 )
g + az

dzisobar ax
Surfaces of constant pressure: =- = constant
dx g + az
dzisobar ax
Slope of isobars: Slope = =- = - tan q
dx g + az
©McGraw-Hill Education.
 Rotation in a Cylindrical Container
Consider a vertical cylindrical container partially
filled with a liquid. The container is now rotated
about its axis at a constant angular velocity of w.
After initial transients, the liquid will move as a
rigid body together with the container. There is
no deformation, and thus there can be no shear
stress, and every fluid particle in the container
moves with the same angular velocity.
¶P ¶P ¶P
= rrw 2 , = 0, and = -rg
¶r ¶q ¶z
P = P(r , z ) dP = (¶P /¶r )dr + (¶P /¶z )dz
dP = rrw 2 dr - r g dz
dzisobar rw 2
=
dr g
w2 Rigid-body motion of a liquid
Surfaces of constant pressure: zisobar = r + C1
2
in a rotating vertical cylindrical
g container.
©McGraw-Hill Education.
 w2
zs = r 2 + hc
2g
R æ w2 2
R ö æ w 2 2
R ö
V = ò 2p zs r dr = 2p ò ç r + hc ÷ r dr = p R ç
2
+ hc ÷
r =0 r =0 è 2 g ø è 4g ø
V = p R 2 h0

w 2 R2
hc = h0 -
4g
w2
Free surface: zs = h0 - ( R 2 - 2r 2 )
4g

©McGraw-Hill Education.
 w2
Maximum height difference: Dzs ,max = zs ( R) - zs (0) = R2
2g
dP = rrw 2 dr - r g dz

rw 2
P2 - P1 = (r22 - r12 ) - r g ( z2 - z1 )
2
rw 2
Pressure at that point: P = P0 + r 2 - r gz
2
At a fixed radius, the pressure varies hydrostatically
in the vertical direction, as in a fluid at rest.
For a fixed vertical distance z, the pressure varies
with the square of the radial distance r, increasing
from the centerline toward the outer edge.
In any horizontal plane, the pressure difference
between the center and edge of the container of
radius R is

DP = rw 2 R 2 /2 Surfaces of constant
pressure in a rotating liquid.
©McGraw-Hill Education.
 Photo courtesy of Paul Hickson, The University of British Columbia.
The 6-meter spinning liquid-mercury mirror
of the Large Zenith Telescope located near
Vancouver, British Columbia.

©McGraw-Hill Education.