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Submitted By: Date: Experiment 3 Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering Lab Course Number: Lab Instructor

This document describes an experiment to determine the center of pressure on submerged surfaces, such as dams and weirs. The experiment measures the depth of water and moment produced at increasing weight increments and angles of a submerged plane. Results show the moment increases with weight and angle due to greater water pressure. Calculations using equations (i)-(iii) relate the moment to the depth and radius dimensions. Appendices include the raw data collected and sample calculations.

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76 views9 pages

Submitted By: Date: Experiment 3 Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering Lab Course Number: Lab Instructor

This document describes an experiment to determine the center of pressure on submerged surfaces, such as dams and weirs. The experiment measures the depth of water and moment produced at increasing weight increments and angles of a submerged plane. Results show the moment increases with weight and angle due to greater water pressure. Calculations using equations (i)-(iii) relate the moment to the depth and radius dimensions. Appendices include the raw data collected and sample calculations.

Uploaded by

alex
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Centre of Pressure

Submitted By:

Date:

Experiment 3

Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering Lab

Course Number:

Lab Instructor:

Department of Civil Engineering


Texas A&M University–Kingsville

Submission Date:
Centre of Pressure

Introduction
Engineering applications such as dams, weirs, and water gates operate under submerged

conditions. In essence, they are plane surfaces, which are subject to the pressure force that acts

under water (Cimbala, 2014). This experiment seeks to investigate the behavior of these forces

and determine the moments created at the center of pressure.

A plane surface that is under the surface of a fluid is subjected to pressure from liquid

above it, as in Figure 1. Pressure increases with an increase in the depth resulting in a pressure

distribution along the submerged surface (Humpherys, 1991). The analysis of herein involves

determining the force at the center of pressure, and the resulting moment produced.

Figure 1. Centre of pressure apparatus

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Centre of Pressure

The arc formed by the tank is centered at point O. The whole assembly rolls on a

horizontal surface with the axis of the arc coincident to the tanks central axis to cancel out the

extra moment due to non-alignment of the axis. This provision leaves only the moment generated

from the weight as the measurable parameter.

A second tank located above the weight hanger enables trimming at various angles of the

back scale. The angular value of the flat plane and the height of water are recorded from a

protractor scale and linear scale respectively.

Procedure

To set up the equipment we attached the weight hanger to the cord. Water was gently

poured into the trimming tank to bring the submerged plane to zero points on the scale. Once

trimmed, a 20g weight was added to the weight hangar and the tank trimmed again to zero. The

water depth (D) and weight reading were recorded for this and consecutive weight increments.

Both tanks were emptied and trimmed to 100, and 200 respectively. Each inclination set

up was done similarly to the first operation.

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Centre of Pressure

Results and discussion


Table 1. Analysed Data
Weight W Depth R0 R2 – R0 Moment R2−R 0 M θ0
h= m=
(gm) D (mm) (mm) (mm) M (kgf R2 −R 1 M ref
mm)
50 40 160 40 110 0.4 0.10 0
100 50 150 50 169 0.5 0.15 0
150 60 140 60 238 0.6 0.22 0
200 80 120 80 408 0.8 0.37 0
250 90 110 90 507 0.9 0.46 0
300 100 100 100 613 1 0.56 0
350 110 90 110 723 1.1 0.66 0
400 120 80 120 834 1.2 0.76 0
450 130 70 130 944 1.3 0.86 0
500 138 62 138 1033 1.38 0.94 0
550 150 50 150 1165 1.5 1.06 0
600 159 41 159 1264 1.59 1.15 0
650 169 31 169 1375 1.69 1.25 0
700 178 22 178 1474 1.78 1.34 0
750 187 13 187 1573 1.87 1.43 0
800 198 2 198 1695 1.98 1.54 0
100 55 140 60 1529 0.6 -1.65 10
150 60 134 66 1415 0.66 -1.53 10
200 80 115 85 1037 0.85 -1.12 10
250 90 105 95 827 0.95 -0.89 10
300 95 105 95 827 0.95 -0.89 10
50 45 150 50 -832 0.5 -1.85 20
100 59 135 65 -698 0.65 -1.55 20
150 70 128 72 -632 0.72 -1.40 20
200 80 115 85 -504 0.85 -1.12 20
250 90 105 95 -402 0.95 -0.89 20
300 99 100 100 -350 1 -0.78 20

Where;
Rw - radius to weight hanger = 203mm
R1 – radius to plate upper edge = 100mm
R2 – radius to plate lower edge = 200mm
R2 – R1 = 100mm
B – width of the rectangle = 75mm

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Centre of Pressure

The moment M was calculated from the following equations:

Case 1 – plane fully submerged (R0 < R1)

γBCosθ 3 γBCosθ 2
M= ( R2−R31 ) −R0 ( R2−R21 ) … … eqn(i)
3 2

Case 2 – plane partially submerged (R0 > R1)

[ )]
3 3 2 2
R −R 0
M =γBCosθ 2
3
R −R0
−R0 2
2 (
… … . eqn(ii)

Reference moment is given by;

γBCosθ (R 22−R21)(R 2−R1)


M ref = … … . eqn(iii)
2

Where γ is the specific weight of water = 0.00000981N/mm3

Figure 2. The depth of water downslope (R2-R0) vs Moment (M)

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Centre of Pressure

Conclusion

 It was noted that the depth of water D above the plane surface increased proportionately

with increasing weights.


 The radius between the center O and the water surface Ro decreased with an increase in

weight as the plane surface continued to be submerged into the water.


 The moment appears to increase with every increasing angle of inclination. Consider the

case of a 100-gram weight at 00, 100, and 200.


 The moment at 20 degrees acted in the negative direction
 The moment increases with an increase in the force generated by the addition of weights.

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Centre of Pressure

References Used

Çengel, Y. A., & Cimbala, J. M. Fluid mechanics, Fundamentals and Applications (3rd ed.). New

York, 2014.

Humpherys, A. S. (1991). Center-of-Pressure Gates for Irrigation. Applied Engineering in

Agriculture, 1991.

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Centre of Pressure

Appendices
Appendix 1: Laboratory Data (Ө = 00)

W (g) D (mm) R2 – R0 (mm)


50 40 40
100 50 50
150 60 60
200 80 80
250 90 90
300 100 100
350 110 110
400 120 120
450 130 130
500 138 138
550 150 150
600 159 159
650 169 169
700 178 178
750 187 187
800 198 198

Appendix 2: Laboratory Data (Ө = 100)

W (g) RO (mm) D (mm)


100 140 55
150 134 60
200 115 80
250 105 90
300 105 95

Appendix 2: Laboratory Data (Ө = 200)

W (g) RO (mm) D (mm)


50 45 150
100 59 135
150 70 128
200 80 115
250 90 105
300 99 100

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Centre of Pressure

Appendix 3: Sample calculations

Consider 350g at 00 – plane fully submerged (R0 < R1)

200
2
(¿ ¿ 2−100 )=723 kgf mm
0.00000981∗75∗cos 0
M= ( 2003−1003 ) −90 0.00000981∗75 cos 0 ∗¿
3 2

Consider 50g at 00 – plane partially submerged (R0 > R1)

M =0.00000981∗75 cos 0 [ 200 3−1603


3
−160(2003−160 2
2 )]
=110 kgf mm ¿

Consider Mref at 50g 00

0.00000981∗75∗cos 0( 2002−1002 )(200−100)


M ref = =1103 kgf mm
2

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