Basrah University for Oil and Gas

Fluid Mechanics I
Fluid at rest & statics, or hydrostatics.

Dr Mohammed Haloob

Email: mohammed.Haloob@buog.edu.iq
Fluid Mechanics I Basrah University for Oil and Gas

Outline of this lecture

• Fluid (at rest), fluid static or hydrostatics

Fluid Mechanics I Basrah University for Oil and Gas

Fluid at rest & statics, or hydrostatics.

Pressure is defined as the ratio of normal force to area at a point, or may be

defined as the normal force that’s applied toward the unit area, and denoted
by P. Its units are N/m2 or what is called Pascal, Pa.

Highlights
• Fluid exerted, in general, both normal (due to their weights) and
shearing forces (primary due to their viscosity) on surfaces (any
plane) that are contacted with (or submerged in) it.

• The normal forces that are exerted by fluid weights is called the
fluid pressure force and fluid pressure or intensity of fluid pressure. So
the pressure can be defined also as the weight of fluid column
intensity above a certain area.
Fluid Mechanics I Basrah University for Oil and Gas

Fluid at rest & statics, or hydrostatics.

Highlights

• The source of pressure and its effects and its variation of a fluid at
rest is due only to the weight of the fluid.

• Pressure is a scalar quantity; that is, it has magnitude only.

• Pressure is not a force; rather it is a scalar that produces a resultant

force by its action on an area.

• The resultant force is normal to the area and acts in a direction

toward the surface (compressive).
Fluid Mechanics I Basrah University for Oil and Gas

Fluid at rest & statics, or hydrostatics.

Highlights

• Fluids at rest cannot resist a shear stress; in other words,

when a shear stress is applied to a fluid at rest, the fluid will not
remain at rest, but will move (flow) because of the shear stress.

• Hydrostatics is the study of pressures throughout a fluid at rest

• The controlling laws are relatively simple, and analysis is based on a

straight forward application of the mechanical principles of force
and moment.
Fluid Mechanics I Basrah University for Oil and Gas

Fluid at rest & statics, or hydrostatics.

Pressure Units
• Some units for pressure give a ratio of force to area. Newtons per
square meter of area, or pascals (Pa), is the SI unit. The
traditional units include psi, which is pounds-force per square inch,
and psf, which is pounds-force per square foot.

• Other units for pressure give the height of a column of liquid.

Engineers state that the pressure in the balloon is 20 cm of water:
When pressure is given in units of “height of a fluid column,”

𝐹
𝑃= (N/m2) (1PA=N/m2)
𝐴
Fluid Mechanics I Basrah University for Oil and Gas

Fluid at rest & statics, or hydrostatics.

Example I: find the pressure at a depth of 15m below the

free surface of water in reservoir?

Example II: find the height of water column corresponding

to a pressure of 54 kN/m2?
Fluid Mechanics I Basrah University for Oil and Gas

Fluid at rest & statics, or hydrostatics.

Pascal's Law : Pressure at a point

Fluid Mechanics I Basrah University for Oil and Gas

Fluid at rest & statics, or hydrostatics.

Variation of pressure in a static fluid:

• For static fluid, pressure varies only with

elevation (depth) change within fluid.
𝛿𝑃𝑦 = −𝛾. 𝛿𝑦

For certain fluid surface elevation, when the direction of

downward 𝛿𝑦 away from surface (means in the negative
direction of y), this called the depth difference and denoted
as 𝛿ℎ, so the last above equation become:

𝛿𝑃𝑦 = 𝛾. 𝛿ℎ
Fluid Mechanics I Basrah University for Oil and Gas

Fluid at rest & statics, or hydrostatics.

• Rate of increase of pressure in vertical

downward direction must be equal to specific
weight of fluid at that point

𝛿𝑃𝑎 − 𝑏 = −𝛾. 𝛿𝑧

𝑃𝑏 − 𝑃𝑎 = −𝛾. (𝑧𝑏 − 𝑧𝑎)

H
𝑃𝑏 𝑃𝑎
− 𝑍𝑏 = + 𝑍𝑎 = 𝐻
𝛾 𝛾

This is the hydrostatics equation

and H called the hydrostatics pressure
head. With liquids we normally measure
from the surface.
Fluid Mechanics I Basrah University for Oil and Gas

Fluid at rest & statics, or hydrostatics.

• Pressure in horizontal direction

• there is no pressure change in horizontal direction

Fluid at rest & statics, or hydrostatics.

Example I: For the crude Oil storage tank of 40 m, shown with floating
steel cover of weight of about 5000 kN. What would be the Oil height
from the tank base if maximum pressure at the centre of the valve not
excced 1 Bar?
Fluid Mechanics I Basrah University for Oil and Gas

Fluid at rest & statics, or hydrostatics.

Example II: A freshwater lake, has a maximum depth of 60m, and

the mean atmospheric pressure is 91 kPa. Estimate the absolute
pressure in kPa at this maximum depth.
Fluid Mechanics I Basrah University for Oil and Gas

Fluid at rest & statics, or hydrostatics.

Example III: A hydraulic jack has the

dimensions shown. If one exerts a
force F of 100 N on the handle of the
jack, what load, F2, can the jack
support? Neglect lifter weight
Fluid Mechanics I Basrah University for Oil and Gas

Fluid at rest & statics, or hydrostatics.

Example IV: The diameter of ram and plunger of an hydraulic press

are 200mm and 30 mm respectively. Find the weight lifted by the
hydraulic press when the force applied at the plunger is 400 N.

400 N
plunger
D2=30mm
ram
D1=200mm
Fluid Mechanics I Basrah University for Oil and Gas

End of Lecture

Email: mohammed.haloob@buog.edu.iq