CHAPTER 3: HYDROSTATIC FORCE ON SURFACES

The Hydrostatic Force on any plane surface of area, A, submerged in a fluid

of specific weight, γ, is equal to the product of the area and the intensity of
pressure at its centroid

where:

F – hydrostatic force sub

𝛾 – specific weight of fluid

ℎത – vertical distance of the

centroid of the submerged
area from the liquid
surface
C.G. – center of gravity of the
area submerged
C.P. – center of pressure
e – eccentricity, distance
between the CP and CG
ത
𝐹 = 𝛾 ℎ𝐴
Location of the Center of Pressure C.P.
From the liquid surface: where:
𝐼𝑜
𝑦𝑝 = 𝐼𝑜 = 𝐼𝑐𝑔 + 𝐴𝑦ത 2
𝐴𝑦ത A = area
From the Center of Gravity: 𝑦ത = 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑖𝑑 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑂
𝐼𝑐𝑔 𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑦 𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑠
𝑒= e = eccentricity
𝐴𝑦ത 𝐼𝑐𝑔 = centroidal moment of inertia
of the submerged surface
area
note:

If the liquid surface is subjected to a pressure 𝑝𝑠 > 𝑝𝑎𝑡𝑚 or 𝑝𝑠 < 𝑝𝑎𝑡𝑚,

the effect of this should be taken into consideration as it will change
the location of C.G. and C.P.
HYDROSTATIC FORCE ON CURVED SURFACES