hydrostatics
Mechanical Engineering: Hydrostatic Force
Introduction
Hydrostatics is a fundamental aspect of mechanics which consists of the analysis of fluid bodies which are either completely at rest or slow enough for any motion to be neglected during calculations. The concept of hydrostatics has many applications in industry, some notable ones being:
Manmade dams and water features preventing the passage of water. In this particular example, large volumes of water is held back, which is eventually released allowing it to flow through turbines and thus electrically is generated due to hydrostatic pressure. More importantly, the height of the water capacity must always be known as this will determine the exerted hydrostatic force on the dam walls.
The buoyancy force in ships, which is a result of the hydrostatic force acting on the ship, is a key element when designing them. When an object is immersed into a fluid, the fluid will exert an upward force therefore allowing it to float. Hence parameters such as the height and weight of the ship must be taken into consideration when under construction.
Hot air balloons are capable of staying airborne because of the upwards hydrostatic force that is created within the balloon. Heating is present inside a hot air balloon as this traps air which is less dense, therefore the balloon can rise when this force is greater than the gravitational force due to the mass of the balloon.
A lab experiment carried out provided an underlying understanding of the applications stated above. The objective of this experiment was to measure the hydrostatic force on a partially submerged vertical surface and to compare them to their theoretical equivalents.
Theory
A particle that is immersed in a static fluid is known to experience pressure from all sides acting towards it. The pressure must be equal in all directions, otherwise then the fluid would not be said to be in static condition as you can see in Diagram 2. The pressure
Introduction
Hydrostatics is a fundamental aspect of mechanics which consists of the analysis of fluid bodies which are either completely at rest or slow enough for any motion to be neglected during calculations. The concept of hydrostatics has many applications in industry, some notable ones being:
Manmade dams and water features preventing the passage of water. In this particular example, large volumes of water is held back, which is eventually released allowing it to flow through turbines and thus electrically is generated due to hydrostatic pressure. More importantly, the height of the water capacity must always be known as this will determine the exerted hydrostatic force on the dam walls.
The buoyancy force in ships, which is a result of the hydrostatic force acting on the ship, is a key element when designing them. When an object is immersed into a fluid, the fluid will exert an upward force therefore allowing it to float. Hence parameters such as the height and weight of the ship must be taken into consideration when under construction.
Hot air balloons are capable of staying airborne because of the upwards hydrostatic force that is created within the balloon. Heating is present inside a hot air balloon as this traps air which is less dense, therefore the balloon can rise when this force is greater than the gravitational force due to the mass of the balloon.
A lab experiment carried out provided an underlying understanding of the applications stated above. The objective of this experiment was to measure the hydrostatic force on a partially submerged vertical surface and to compare them to their theoretical equivalents.
Theory
A particle that is immersed in a static fluid is known to experience pressure from all sides acting towards it. The pressure must be equal in all directions, otherwise then the fluid would not be said to be in static condition as you can see in Diagram 2. The pressure
Bibliography: Bird, J. & Ross, C. (2012). Mechanical Engineering Principles. 2nd ed. Abingdon: Routledge. p244-255.