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ME 3350 Fall 16 handout 2.5

HYDROSTATIC FORCE ON CURVED SURFACES

PROBLEM STATEMENT
Consider a gate (curved surface) submerged in a fluid. What is the resultant hydrostatic force
FR acting on the gate?

WHY IS THIS PROBLEM DIFFERENT FROM CALCULATING THE HYDROSTATIC FORCE ON A PLANE
SURFACE?
The hydrostatic force on an infinitesimal element of the curved surface, dA , acts normal to the
surface. However, the differential pressure force on each element of the surface acts in a
different direction because of the surface curvature.

METHOD TO CALCULATE THE HYDROSTATIC FORCE ON A CURVED SURFACE

Consider one infinitesimal surface element dA . The pressure force acting on dA is:

dF pdA
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ME 3350 Fall 16 handout 2.5

Therefore, the resultant force can be calculated by integrating this infinitesimal pressure force
over the gate area:
FR pdA
A

This resultant pressure force can be decomposed into its x- and z-components:

FR FRx i FRz k

To evaluate the component of the force in one particular direction, we can take the dot product
of the force with the unit vector in the given direction:

FRx FR i pdA i pdAx

A A

In this expression, dAx is the projection of dA in the x-direction.

It is important to note that we are considering the projection of the vector dA which is normal to
the gate, not the projection of the element of surface tangential to the gate. Therefore, dAx
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ME 3350 Fall 16 handout 2.5

actually represents the projection of the element of surface taken along the gate along the z-
axis. Similarly, dAz represents the projection of the element of surface taken along the gate
along the x-axis.

Now, we can calculate the horizontal and vertical components of the hydrostatic force acting on
the gate. Lets start with the horizontal component FRx :

FRx pdAx
A

If the gate has a unit width (perpendicular to the page), then:

FRx pdz
A

This is similar to calculating the pressure force acting on a vertical plane surface (i.e., projection
of the curved surface along z).

For the vertical component of the resultant hydrostatic force:

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ME 3350 Fall 16 handout 2.5

FRz pdAz
A

Again, assuming a gate of unit width:

FRz pdx
A

dp gate surface
By definition: g , therefore: p gdz
dz free surface

Therefore: FRz
A
gate surface

free surface
gdz dx

which can be rearranged as:

x2 z2
FRz g dz dx
x1 z1

where x1, x2, z1 and z2 define the limits of the fluid domain located above the curved surface. In
other words, when the curved surface is located below the liquid, the vertical component of the
resultant hydrostatic force is equal to the weight of the fluid column above the curved surface.
This is equivalent to the sum of the weight of the fluid block and the hydrostatic force acting on
the horizontal projection of the curved surface:

The calculation of the vertical component of the hydrostatic force could be done similarly when
the curved surface is located above the liquid:
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ME 3350 Fall 16 handout 2.5

In this case, the weight of the liquid and the vertical component of the hydrostatic force act in
the opposite direction.

SUMMARY

The horizontal component of the hydrostatic force acting on a curved surface is equal to
the hydrostatic force acting on the vertical projection of the curved surface.

The vertical component of the hydrostatic force acting on a curved surface is equal to
the hydrostatic force acting on the horizontal projection of the curved surface, plus
(minus, if acting in the opposite direction) the weight of the fluid block.