FLUID MECHANICS

GAUGE PRESSURE, ABSOLUTE

PRESSURE AND PRESSURE
MEASUREMENT
You are driving down the highway and notice that the car is slightly being pulled to one side. So, you take the car to your mechanic
Mike, an expert mechanic, who immediately notices that the tires look slightly deflated. He uses a tire pressure gauge to check and
says that the front tires are at 29 psi. He also checks the side of the tire and reads the ideal pressure for your wheels is 32 psi; so, he
inflates all four tires to 32 psi. Mike advises you to check the tires regularly so that they are at their ideal gauge pressure. You drive
away feeling safe to drive and that's when you start to wonder: What is gauge pressure?
 Gauge Pressure Formula
WHAT IS A GAUGE
The gauge pressure is the
PRESSURE? difference of the absolute and
the atmospheric pressures as
follows:

Gauge pressure is the pressure relative to

atmospheric pressure. Gauge pressure is
positive for pressures above atmospheric
pressure, and negative for pressures below
WHAT IS ABSOLUTE
PRESSURE ?

Absolute pressure is pressure measured relative to a zero point defined by the pressure of a
vacuum; it is the sum of gauge pressure and atmospheric pressure. The absolute pressure
measures pressure, which is a quantity defined as force per unit area, relative to an absolute
zero defined as the pressure of a vacuum. In the absence of an atmosphere, such as a vacuum,
the gauge pressure would be equivalent to the absolute pressure.

Absolute Pressure = Gauge pressure + Atmospheric Pressure

The total pressure, or absolute pressure, is thus the sum of gauge
pressure and atmospheric pressure: Pabs = Pg + Patm where Pabs is
absolute pressure, Pg is gauge pressure, and Patm is atmospheric
pressure.

A pressure gauge measures the reading as 29 psi. If the atmospheric pressure is 13

Compute the absolute pressure that corresponds to this gauge pressure reading.
Solution:
Given parameters are:
Atmospheric pressure, Patm = 31psi
Gauge pressure, Pg = 14.2psi

Now applying the formula,

Absolute pressure, Pabs = Patm + Pg

Pabs = 13psi + 29psi

Pabs = 42psi
Thus Absolute pressure will be 42 psi.
PRESSURE
MEASUREMENT
When people talk about "taking your blood
pressure," it means they want to check two
numbers that represent the force of the blood
that your heart pumps through your body.
These two numbers are called
the systolic blood pressure and
the diastolic blood pressure. They are
measured by using a cuff with an attached
gauge so that the numbers can be read by a
machine, or by a person hearing the pressure
rise and fall through a stethoscope.