Chapter 2

PRESSURE & FLUID

STATICS
EMM 3305
Fluid Mechanics I
 Objectives
• Determine the variation of pressure in a fluid at
rest
• Calculate pressure using various kinds of
manometers
• Calculate the forces exerted by a fluid at rest on
plane or curved submerged surfaces

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PRESSURE
Pressure: A normal force exerted by a fluid per unit area

Some basic
pressure
gages. 3
Absolute pressure: The actual pressure at a given position. It is
measured relative to absolute vacuum (i.e., absolute zero pressure).
Gage pressure: The difference between the absolute pressure and the
local atmospheric pressure. Most pressure-measuring devices are
calibrated to read zero in the atmosphere, and so they indicate gage
pressure.
Vacuum pressures: Pressures below atmospheric pressure.

Throughout
this text, the
pressure P
will denote
absolute
pressure
unless
specified
otherwise.

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 From Newton’s second law, a force balance in the x- and z-
Pressure at a Point directions gives:
Pressure is the compressive
force per unit area but it is not
a vector. Pressure at any point
in a fluid is the same in all
directions. Pressure has
magnitude but not a specific
direction, and thus it is a
scalar quantity.

Pressure is a scalar quantity, not a

vector; the pressure at a point in a 6
Forces acting on a wedge-shaped
fluid is the same in all directions.
fluid element in equilibrium.
Variation of Pressure with Depth
• Pressure in a fluid at rest does not change in the
horizontal direction.

• However, pressure in a fluid increases with depth

because more fluid rests on deeper layers, and
the effect of this extra weight on a deeper layer is
balanced by an increase in pressure.
Consider a rectangular fluid element of height Δz, length Δx, The pressure of a fluid at rest
and unit length (Δy = 1 into the page) in equilibrium. increases with depth (as a result of
Assuming the density of the fluid ρ to be constant, a force added weight).
balance in the vertical z- direction gives:

An easier equation to remember and apply between any

two points in the same fluid under hydrostatic conditions is:
Free-body diagram of a rectangular
fluid element in equilibrium. 7
If we take the ‘above’ point to be at the free For fluid whose density changes significantly
surface of a liquid open to the atmosphere, with elevation, a relation for the variation of
where the pressure is Patm, the pressure at a pressure with elevation can be obtained by
depth h below the free surface becomes: dividing ΔP by Δz, and taking the limit as
Δz 0 to yield:
dP
= − g
dz

When the variation of density with elevation is

known, the pressure difference between any
two points 1 and 2 can be determined by
integration to be:

Pressure in a liquid at
rest increases linearly
with distance from the 8
free surface.
• Pressure in a fluid at rest is independent of the shape or cross section of
the container. It changes with the vertical distance, but remains constant
in other directions.

• Hence, the pressure is the same at all points on a horizontal plane in a

given fluid regardless of geometry, provided that the points are
interconnected by the same fluid.
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A consequence of the pressure in a fluid remaining constant in the
horizontal direction is that the pressure applied to a confined fluid
increases the pressure throughout by the same amount. This is called
Pascal’s law.

Lifting of a large
weight by a small
force by the
application of
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Pascal’s law.
 PRESSURE MEASUREMENT DEVICES
The Barometer
• Atmospheric pressure is measured by a device called a barometer; thus,
the atmospheric pressure is often referred to as the barometric pressure.
• A frequently used pressure unit is the standard atmosphere, which is
defined as the pressure produced by a column of mercury 760 mm in height
at 0°C (Hg = 13,595 kg/m3) under standard gravitational acceleration
(g = 9.807 m/s2).
The length or the
cross-sectional area
of the tube has no
effect on the height
of the fluid column of
a barometer,
provided that the
tube diameter is
large enough to
avoid surface tension
(capillary) effects.

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The basic barometer.
12
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The Manometer
It is commonly used to measure
small and moderate pressure In stacked-up fluid layers, the
differences. A manometer pressure change across a fluid
contains one or more fluids such layer of density  and height h
as mercury, water, alcohol, or oil. is gh.

The basic
manometer
- Gravitational effects of gases are
negligible, hence the pressure anywhere Measuring the
in the tank and at position 1 has the pressure drop
same value. across a flow
- Pressure in a fluid does not vary in
section or a flow
horizontal direction within a fluid, device by a
therefore P2 = P1 differential
manometer.
- The differential fluid column of height h
is in static equilibrium, and is open to the
atmosphere. Therefore, 14
A simple U-tube
manometer, with
high pressure
applied to the right
side. 15
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INTRODUCTION TO FLUID STATICS
Fluid statics: Deals with problems associated with fluids at rest.
The fluid can be either gaseous or liquid.
Hydrostatics: When the fluid is a liquid.
Aerostatics: When the fluid is a gas.
In fluid statics, there is no relative motion between adjacent fluid
layers, and thus there are no shear (tangential) stresses in the fluid
trying to deform it.
The only stress we deal with in fluid statics is the normal stress, which
is the pressure, and the variation of pressure is due only to the
weight of the fluid.
The topic of fluid statics has significance only in gravity fields.
The design of many engineering systems such as water dams and
liquid storage tanks requires the determination of the forces acting
on the surfaces using fluid statics.
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 HYDROSTATIC FORCES
ON SUBMERGED PLANE
SURFACES
A plate, such as a gate valve in a dam,
the wall of a liquid storage tank, or the
hull of a ship at rest, is subjected to
fluid pressure distributed over its Hoover Dam.
surface when exposed to a liquid.
On a plane surface, the hydrostatic
forces form a system of parallel forces,
and we often need to determine the
magnitude of the force and its point of
application, which is called the center
of pressure.

When analyzing hydrostatic forces on

submerged surfaces, the atmospheric
pressure can be subtracted for simplicity
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when it acts on both sides of the structure.
 Hydrostatic force
on an inclined
plane surface
completely
submerged in a
liquid.

The pressure at the

centroid of a surface is
equivalent to the average
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pressure on the surface.
The resultant force acting on a
plane surface is equal to the
product of the pressure at the
centroid of the surface and the
surface area, and its line of
action passes through the
center of pressure.

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The centroid and the centroidal moments of
inertia for some common geometries.
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Pressure acts normal to the surface, and
the hydrostatic forces acting on a flat
plate of any shape form a volume whose
base is the plate area and whose length
is the linearly varying pressure.
This virtual pressure prism has an
interesting physical interpretation: its
volume is equal to the magnitude of the
resultant hydrostatic force acting on the
plate since FR =  PdA, and the line of
action of this force passes through the
centroid of this homogeneous prism.
The projection of the centroid on the plate
is the pressure center.
Therefore, with the concept of pressure
prism, the problem of describing the
resultant hydrostatic force on a plane The hydrostatic forces acting on a
surface reduces to finding the volume plane surface form a pressure prism
and the two coordinates of the centroid of whose base (left face) is the surface
this pressure prism. and whose length is the pressure.

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Special Case:
Submerged
Rectangular Plate
Hydrostatic force acting
on the top surface of a
submerged tilted
rectangular plate.

25
Hydrostatic force
acting on the top
surface of a
submerged vertical
rectangular plate.

26
Hydrostatic force acting
on the top surface of a
submerged horizontal
rectangular plate.

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29
 HYDROSTATIC FORCES ON SUBMERGED
CURVED SURFACES

Determination of the hydrostatic force acting on a submerged curved surface.

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When a curved surface is above
the liquid, the weight of the liquid The hydrostatic force acting on a circular
and the vertical component of the surface always passes through the center
hydrostatic force act in the of the circle since the pressure forces are
opposite directions. normal to the surface and they all pass 31
through the center.
 In a multilayered fluid of different densities can be determined by
considering different parts of surfaces in different fluids as different
surfaces, finding the force on each part, and then adding them using
vector addition. For a plane surface, it can be expressed as

The hydrostatic force on a

surface submerged in a
multilayered fluid can be
determined by considering parts
of the surface in different fluids
as different surfaces. 32
33
Schematic for Example 3–9
and the free-body diagram
of the liquid underneath the
cylinder.

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35
 Summary
• Pressure
• Pressure Measurement Devices
• Introduction to Fluid Statics
• Hydrostatic Forces on Submerged Plane
Surfaces
• Hydrostatic Forces on Submerged Curved
Surfaces

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