Fluid Mechanics:

Fundamentals and Applications

4th Edition in SI Units

Yunus A. Cengel, John M. Cimbala

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Chapter 3

PRESSURE AND FLUID STATICS

McGraw-Hill | 2
John Ninomiya flying a cluster of 72 helium-filled balloons over Temecula, California in April
of 2003. The helium balloons displace approximately 230 m3 of air, providing the necessary
buoyant force. Don’t try this at home!
 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
• Analyze the stability of floating and submerged bodies
• Analyze the rigid-body motion of fluids in containers
during linear acceleration or rotation

4
3–1 ■ PRESSURE

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

pascal

5
 140 kg
70 kg

Afeet=343 cm2

Some basic pressure gages.

P = 20 kPa P = 40 kPa

P = (709.81/1000) kN / 0.0343 m2 = 20 kPa

The normal stress (or “pressure”) on the feet of a chubby

person is much greater than on the feet of a slim person.

6
 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.

7
Pressure at a Point
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
fluid is the same in all
directions.
8
 Forces acting on a
wedge-shaped fluid
element in equilibrium.
9
 Variation of Pressure
with Depth

When the variation of density

with elevation is known

The pressure of a fluid at

rest increases with depth Free-body diagram of a rectangular
(as a result of added weight). fluid element in equilibrium. 10
 Pressure in a liquid at rest
increases linearly with
In a room filled with a gas, the variation distance from the free
of pressure with height is negligible. surface.

11
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.

12
Pascal’s law: The
pressure applied to a
confined fluid increases
the pressure throughout
by the same amount.

The area ratio A2/A1 is

called the ideal
mechanical advantage
of the hydraulic lift.

Lifting of a large
weight by a small
force by the
application of
Pascal’s law.
13
3–2 ■ PRESSURE MEASUREMENT DEVICES
The Barometer
Atmospheric pressure is
measured by a device called a
barometer.
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 basic
barometer.
14
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.

15
At high altitudes, a car engine generates
less power and a person gets less oxygen
because of the lower density of air.

16
The Manometer

It is commonly used to measure small and moderate pressure

differences. A manometer contains one or more fluids such
as mercury, water, alcohol, or oil.

The basic manometer.

17
 Some manometers use a
slanted or inclined tube in order
to increase the resolution
(precision) when reading the
fluid height.
Such devices are called inclined
manometers.

A simple U-tube
manometer, with
high pressure
applied to the right
side.
18
In stacked-up fluid layers, the
pressure change across a
fluid layer of density  and
height h is gh.

19
Measuring the
pressure drop across a
flow section or a flow
device by a differential
manometer.

20
Other Pressure Measurement Devices
Bourdon tube: Consists of a hollow metal tube
bent like a hook whose end is closed and
connected to a dial indicator needle.
Pressure transducers: Use various techniques
to convert the pressure effect to an electrical
effect such as a change in voltage, resistance,
or capacitance.
Pressure transducers are smaller and faster,
and they can be more sensitive, reliable, and
precise than their mechanical counterparts.
Strain-gage pressure transducers: Work by
having a diaphragm deflect between two
chambers open to the pressure inputs.
Piezoelectric transducers: Also called solid-
state pressure transducers, work on the
principle that an electric potential is
generated in a crystalline substance when it is Various types of Bourdon
subjected to mechanical pressure. tubes used to measure
pressure. 21
Deadweight tester: Another type of mechanical pressure gage. It is used
primarily for calibration and can measure extremely high pressures.
A deadweight tester measures pressure directly through application of a
weight that provides a force per unit area.
It is constructed with an internal chamber filled with a fluid (usually oil),
along with a tight-fitting piston, cylinder, and plunger.
Weights are applied to the top of the piston, which exerts a force on the oil
in the chamber. The total force F acting on the oil at the piston–oil interface
is the sum of the weight of the piston plus the applied weights.

A deadweight tester is
able to measure
extremely high pressures
(up to 70 MPa in some
applications).

22
3–3 ■ 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.

23
3–4 ■ 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 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.

Hoover Dam. 24
When analyzing
hydrostatic forces on
submerged surfaces,
the atmospheric
pressure can be
subtracted for
simplicity when it acts
on both sides of the
structure.

25
Hydrostatic force on an inclined plane surface completely submerged in a liquid.

26
The pressure at the
centroid of a surface is
equivalent to the
average pressure on
the surface.

27
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.

second moment of area

(area moment of inertia)
about the x-axis.

28
The centroid and the centroidal moments of inertia for some common geometries.

29
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 and plane surface form a pressure prism
the two coordinates of the centroid of this whose base (left face) is the surface
pressure prism. and whose length is the pressure.

30
Special Case:
Submerged
Rectangular Plate

Hydrostatic force acting

on the top surface of a
submerged tilted
rectangular plate.

31
Hydrostatic force
acting on the top
surface of a
submerged vertical
rectangular plate.

32
Hydrostatic force acting
on the top surface of a
submerged horizontal
rectangular plate.

33
 3–5 ■ HYDROSTATIC FORCES ON SUBMERGED
CURVED SURFACES

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

34
In many structures of
practical application,
the submerged
surfaces are not flat,
but curved as here at
Glen Canyon Dam in
Utah and Arizona.

35
When a curved surface is above the liquid, the weight The hydrostatic force acting on a circular surface
of the liquid and the vertical component of the always passes through the center of the circle since
hydrostatic force act in the opposite directions. the pressure forces are normal to the surface and they
all pass 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.
37
 3–6 ■ BUOYANCY AND STABILITY
Buoyant force: The upward force a fluid exerts on a body immersed in it. The
buoyant force is caused by the increase of pressure with depth in a fluid.

The buoyant force acting on

the plate is equal to the
weight of the liquid
displaced by the plate.
For a fluid with constant
density, the buoyant force is
independent of the distance
of the body from the free
surface.
It is also independent of the
density of the solid body.
A flat plate of uniform thickness h submerged
in a liquid parallel to the free surface.

38
 The buoyant forces acting on a
solid body submerged in a fluid and
on a fluid body of the same shape
at the same depth are identical.
The buoyant force FB acts upward
through the centroid C of the
displaced volume and is equal in
magnitude to the weight W of the
displaced fluid, but is opposite in
direction. For a solid of uniform
density, its weight Ws also acts
through the centroid, but its
magnitude is not necessarily equal
to that of the fluid it displaces.
(Here Ws > W and thus Ws > FB; this
solid body would sink.)

Archimedes’ principle: The buoyant force acting on

a body immersed in a fluid is equal to the weight of
the fluid displaced by the body, and it acts upward
through the centroid of the displaced volume.
39
For floating bodies, the weight of the entire body must be equal to
the buoyant force, which is the weight of the fluid whose volume is
equal to the volume of the submerged portion of the floating body:

A solid body dropped into

a fluid will sink, float, or
remain at rest at any
point in the fluid,
depending on its average
density relative to the
density of the fluid.
40
For a body floating on the surface of a liquid, the total weight of the body
must be less than that of the liquid it displaces.
A portion of the body volume is submerged, while the remaining portion is
positioned above the surface of the liquid. Since the system is stationary,
the two vertical forces W and FB must still balance.
For a body of known weight W, we see that as the liquid density f
increases, a smaller percentage of the body volume is submerged.

The density of the water in

the Dead Sea is about 24%
higher than that of pure
water. Therefore, people
float much more easily (with
more of their bodies above
the water) in the Dead Sea
than in fresh water or in
normal seawater.
41
The altitude of a hot air
balloon is controlled by the
temperature difference
between the air inside and
outside the balloon, since
warm air is less dense
than cold air. When the
balloon is neither rising nor
falling, the upward buoyant
force exactly balances the
downward weight.

42
 Stability of Immersed and
Floating Bodies

Stability is
easily
understood by
analyzing a ball
on the floor.

For floating bodies such as ships, stability

is an important consideration for safety. 43
A floating body possesses vertical
stability, while an immersed neutrally
buoyant body is neutrally stable since it
does not return to its original position
after a disturbance.

An immersed neutrally buoyant

body is (a) stable if the center of
gravity G is directly below the
center of buoyancy B of the body, (b)
neutrally stable if G and B are
coincident, and (c) unstable if G is
directly above B.
44
 A ball in a trough between
two hills is stable for small
disturbances, but unstable
for large disturbances.
When the center of gravity G of an
immersed neutrally buoyant body is not
vertically aligned with the center of
buoyancy B of the body, it is not in an
equilibrium state and would rotate to its
stable state, even without any disturbance.

45
A floating body is stable if the body is bottom-heavy and thus the center
of gravity G is below the centroid B of the body, or if the metacenter M is
above point G. However, the body is unstable if point M is below point G.

Metacentric height GM: The distance between the center of gravity G and
the metacenter M—the intersection point of the lines of action of the
buoyant force through the body before and after rotation.
The length of the metacentric height GM above G is a measure of the
stability: the larger it is, the more stable is the floating body. 46
3–7 ■ FLUIDS IN RIGID-BODY MOTION
Pressure at a given point has the
same magnitude in all directions, and
thus it is a scalar function.
In this section we obtain relations for
the variation of pressure in fluids
moving like a solid body with or
without acceleration in the absence of
any shear stresses (i.e., no motion
between fluid layers relative to each
other).

47
48
Taylor series expansion of f
from point a to some nearby
point x. As x gets small, it is
common to truncate the
series to first order, keeping
only the first two terms on
the right side.

49
Special Case 1: Fluids at Rest
For fluids at rest or moving on a straight path at constant velocity, all
components of acceleration are zero, and the relations reduce to

The pressure remains constant in any

horizontal direction (P is independent of
x and y) and varies only in the vertical
direction as a result of gravity [and thus
P = P(z)]. These relations are applicable
for both compressible and
incompressible fluids.

A glass of water at rest is a special

case of a fluid in rigid-body motion. If
the glass of water were moving at
constant velocity in any direction, the
hydrostatic equations would still apply. 50
Special Case 2: Free Fall of a Fluid Body
A freely falling body accelerates under the influence of gravity.
When the air resistance is negligible, the acceleration of the
body equals the gravitational acceleration, and acceleration in
any horizontal direction is zero.
Therefore, ax = ay = 0 and az = − g

In a frame of reference moving with the fluid, it behaves like

it is in an environment with zero gravity. Also, the gage
pressure in a drop of liquid in free fall is zero throughout.

51
The effect of
acceleration on the
pressure of a liquid
during free fall and
upward acceleration.

52
Acceleration on a Straight Path

Rigid-body motion of a liquid in

a linearly accelerating tank.

The system in the figure behaves like a fluid at rest

except that g − a replaces g in the hydrostatic equations.

53
Lines of constant pressure
(which are the projections of the
surfaces of constant pressure on
the xz-plane) in a linearly
accelerating liquid. Also shown is
the vertical rise.

54
Rotation in a Cylindrical Container
Consider a vertical cylindrical container partially
filled with a liquid. The container is now rotated
about its axis at a constant angular velocity of .
After initial transients, the liquid will move as a
rigid body together with the container. There is no
deformation, and thus there can be no shear
stress, and every fluid particle in the container
moves with the same angular velocity.

Rigid-body motion of a liquid in

a rotating vertical cylindrical
container.
56
At a fixed radius, the pressure varies hydrostatically
in the vertical direction, as in a fluid at rest.
For a fixed vertical distance z, the pressure varies
with the square of the radial distance r, increasing
from the centerline toward the outer edge.
In any horizontal plane, the pressure difference
between the center and edge of the container of
radius R is
Surfaces of constant
pressure in a rotating liquid.
The 6-meter spinning liquid-mercury mirror
of the Large Zenith Telescope located near
Vancouver, British Columbia.

58
 Summary
Pressure
Pressure Measurement Devices
Introduction to Fluid Statics
Hydrostatic Forces on Submerged Plane Surfaces
Hydrostatic Forces on Submerged Curved Surfaces
Buoyancy and Stability
Fluids in Rigid-Body Motion

59
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