EM 208: Fluid Mechanics

Chapter 4: FORCES DUE TO STATIC FLUIDS

Question 4.11: Calculate the total force on the bottom of the
closed tank as shown below. If the air pressure is 52 kPa (gage).

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RECTANGULAR WALLS
Compute the resultant force exerted on a rectangular wall by a static
liquid.
.

Question: If the entire force were concentrated at a single point, where

would that point be and what would the magnitude of the force be?

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RECTANGULAR WALLS
Objective 3:Compute the resultant force exerted on a rectangular wall
by a static liquid.
. The pressure at the
centroid of a surface is
equivalent to the
average
pressure on the
surface.

The lengths of the dashed are rows represent the magnitude of the
fluid pressure at various points on the wall. Because of this linear
variation in pressure, the total resultant force (denoted by 𝐹𝑅 ) can be
calculated from the equation:
ℎ yields 𝒉
𝐹𝑅 = 𝑝𝑎𝑣𝑔 × 𝐴, 𝑝𝑎𝑣𝑔 = 𝛾 𝑭𝑹 = 𝜸 𝑨
2 𝟐
The centroid of a vertical wall is located 𝒉/𝟑 from the bottom of 4
the wall. (Recall your statics course)
Question 4.16: The wall shown is 20 ft. long. (a) Calculate the total
force on the wall due to water pressure and locate the center of
pressure. (b) calculate the moment due to this force at the base of
the wall. (Specific weight of water = 62.4 lb/ft3)

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Problem (10) Example 4.5
The figure below shows a dam 30.5 m long that retains 8 m of fresh
water and is inclined at an angle of 60". Calculate the magnitude of the
resultant force on the dam and the location of the center of pressure.
Answer: 𝑭𝑹 = 𝟏𝟏𝟎𝟔𝟎 𝒌𝑵, 𝑳𝒑 = 𝟔. 𝟏𝟔𝒎

Procedure for Computing the Force on a Rectangular Wall:

𝒉
1. Calculate 𝑭𝑹 = 𝜸 𝑨
𝟐
2. Locate the center of pressure at a vertical distance of 𝒉/𝟑from the bottom of
the wall.
3. Show the resultant force acting at the center of pressure perpendicular to the
wall.