Buoyancy, Flotation and Stability

When a stationary body is completely

submerged in a fluid, or floating
(partially submerged), the resultant
fluid force on the body is the buoyant
force.
A net upward force results because
Buoyant force has a magnitude equal
to the weight of the fluid displaced by
body and is directed vertically upward.
Archimedes principle (287-212 BC)

2 1 B
F F F W =
2 1 2 1
( ) F F h h A =
2 1 2 1
( ) ( ) ]
B
F h h A h h A V = |
B
F V =
2 1 1 1 2 B
F y F y F y wy =
Buoyant force passes through the centroid of the displaced
volume
Figure 2.24 (p. 70)
Buoyant force on submerged and floating bodies.
Example 1

A spherical buoys has a diameter of 1.5 m, weighs 8.50 kN
and is anchored to the seafloor with a cable. What is the
tension on the cable when the buoy is completely immersed?

Example 2

Measuring specific gravity by a hydrometer

Stability of Immersed and Floating Bodies

Centers of buoyancy and gravity do not coincide
A small rotation can result in either a restoring or
overturning couple.
Stability is important for floating bodies

Stability of an immersed body

Stability of a completely
immersed body center
of gravity below entroid.

Stability of a completely
immersed body center of
gravity above centroid.
Stability of a floating body

Elementary Fluid Dynamics

Newtons second law

Bernoulli equation (most used and the most abused
equation in fluid mechanics)

Inviscid flow- flow where viscosity is assumed to be zero;
viscous effects are relatively small compared with other
effects such as gravity and pressure differences.

Net pressure force on a particle +net gravity force in particle

Two dimensional flow (in x-z plane)

Steady flow (shown in Figure 3.1)

Figure 3.1 (p. 95)
(a) Flow in the x-y plane. (b) flow in terms of streamline
and normal coordinates.
Streamlines

Velocity vector is tangent to the path of flow
Lines that are tangent to the velocity vectors throughout
the flow field are called streamlines
Equation for a streamline:

dr dx dy dz
V u v w
= = =
Force balance on a Streamline

'
s s
V V
F ma mV VV
s s
o o
o o o o
o o
= = =

' V s n y o o o o =
0 0
sin ' sin
s
W W V o o u o u = =
2
s
p s
p
s
c c
c ~
c
( ) ( ) 2
s s s s
p p
F p p n y p p n y p n y s n y
s s
o o o o o o o o o o
c c
= c +c = c = c =
c c
0
( sin ) '
s s ps
p
F W F V
s
o o o u o
c
= + =
c

sin
s
p V
V a
s s
u
c c
= =
c c
Figure 3.3 (p. 97)

Free-body diagram of a fluid particle for which the
important forces are those due to pressure and gravity.

The physical interpretation is that a
change in fluid particle speed is
accomplished by the appropriate
combination of pressure gradient
and particle weight along the
streamline.