DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

Thermo-Fluid lab (ME-322)

Experiment title Center of Pressure

Experiment No. 2

Experiment date 30/9/2021

By

Student name ID Section

1 Abdullah Alqahtani 439014038 2

2 Fahad Alharbi 439013770 2
3 Khalid Alahmari 439023647 2

Instructor: Dr. Murugesan Palaniappan

 Evaluation sheet (Official use)

checklist Details Marks Marks Deducted Remarks

Cover Page 5
Plagiarism in results & discussion part must

Table of Content 5

Introduction
10
(Experiment objectives, theory, etc.) ± 5 marks, depending
be < 50%
Contents

on the nature of
Experiment Procedure & setup 20
department/lab
Data, Results & calculations 25

Discussion and/or Conclusion 10

References, Standard, appendix, etc. 5

Subtotal 80 Min. 48

Text 12 Regular, with Spacing 1.5 4

Heading 14 Bold 2
Formatting

Standard Front Type 2

Paragraph: Justified 2

Figures/Tables/Equations: Numbered,
10
Caption & Cited in text
Subtotal 20 Min. 12
Total 100

ME322_Thermo_Fluids Lab Page 1

 Table of Contents

1. Introduction .......................................................................................................3

1.1. Objectives ............................................................................................................. 3

1.2. Background / Theory ............................................................................................ 3

2. Experiment Procedure and Setup ....................................................................5

2.1. Apparatus/device description................................................................................ 5

2.2. Procedure.............................................................................................................. 5

3. Results .................................................................................................................6

3.1. Observations ......................................................................................................... 6

3.2. Calculations .......................................................................................................... 6

4. Discussion / Analysis..........................................................................................7

5. Conclusion ..........................................................................................................7

6. References...........................................................................................................8

ME322_Thermo_Fluids Lab Page 2

1. Introduction
Hydrostatic forces are the resultant force caused by the pressure loading of a liquid acting
on submerged surfaces. Calculation of the hydrostatic force and the location of the center of
pressure are fundamental subjects in fluid mechanics. The center of pressure is a point on the
immersed surface at which the resultant hydrostatic pressure force acts.

1.1. Objectives
To understand Hydrostatic pressure and find center of pressure.

1.2. Background / Theory

This experiment helps us to understand the effect of hydrostatic force on a gate of different
shapes in our experiment it shows the affect in curved panel plane gate (Figure 1). The hydrostatic
force is caused by pressure called the center of pressure and the location of act of hydrostatic force
called the center of pressure, the theoretical way to calculate the pressure and the center of
pressure:

Pressure at centroid:

P=γh (1.1)

Where,

P = Pressure at centroid (Kpa).

γ = is the specific wight of water (N /mm3).

h = is the height from the surface to the centroid of the gate in milliammeter.

The center of pressure the point that the hydrostatic force affect:

I
Ycp = ȳ + ȳA (1.2)

Where,

ȳ = is the high from the centroid of panel gate to the surface (mm).

I = is the moment of inertia of the gate (mm4).

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Hydrostatic force:

Fp = P A (1.3)

Where,

P = is the pressure at the centroid (Kpa).

A = is the area of the gate (mm2).

To calculate lever arm:

ID= 200 − 𝑠 + 𝑦𝑐𝑝 (1.4)

Where,

s = Water level reading (mm).

To calculate 𝑦𝑐𝑝 and resultant force (Fp) for s < 100:

2
𝑦𝑐𝑝 = 3 𝑠 (1.5)

1
Fp= 2 𝜌𝑔𝑏𝑠 2 (1.6)

To calculate 𝑦𝑐𝑝 and resultant force (Fp) for s > 100:

𝑧 𝑧2
𝑦𝑐𝑝 = 𝑠 − 2 + 𝑧 (1.7)
12(𝑠− )
2

𝑧
Fp= 𝜌𝑔 (𝑠 − 2) + 𝑏𝑧 (1.8)

In Figure 1 it shows the force and dimension from panel to surface in clearly way.

Figure 1. Force on a panel.

ME322_Thermo_Fluids Lab Page 4

2. Experiment Procedure and Setup

2.1. Apparatus/device description

Figure 2: HM-150.7 Flow measurement panel.

Table 1: Experiment apparatus.

1 Water vessel 2 Detent
3 Slider 4 Stop pin
5 Water level scale 6 Rider
7 Weights 8 Handle

2.2. Procedure
➢ Set the water vessel (1) to an angle of a =0° using the detent (2). Shown in (figure 3).
➢ Mount the rider (6), set the lever arm on the scale (e.g.
l=240 mm).
➢ Counterbalance the unit with a rotating slider (3): The
stop pin (4) must be precisely in the middle of the hole
for this.
➢ Performing the Measurement: Top up with water until the
unit is balanced (stop pin (4) at center of hole) Figure 3: 𝐹𝑅 and where it’s act
➢ Determining the Centre of Pressure: At a water level s, below the 100 mm mark, the height
of the active surface changes with the water level. If the water level is above that mark, the
height of the active surface is always 100 mm.

ME322_Thermo_Fluids Lab Page 5

 ➢ Increase the appended weights (7) in increments of 1 N and repeat the measurement.

3. Results

3.1. Observations
𝐵 = 75 𝑚𝑚 = 0.075 𝑚
𝑧 = 100 𝑚𝑚 = 0.1 𝑚
𝑔 = 9.81 𝑚/𝑠 2
𝜌 = 1000 𝑘𝑔/𝑚3

3.2. Calculations
𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑠 < 100 (𝑠 = 78 𝑚𝑚):

2 2
𝑦𝑐𝑝 = 𝑠 = (88𝑚𝑚) = 58.66666667𝑚𝑚
3 3

𝐼𝑑 = 200 − 𝑠 + 𝑦𝑐𝑝 = 200 − 88 + 58.66666667 = 170.6666667𝑚𝑚

𝜌𝑔𝑠 1000 × 9.8 × 0.088

𝐹𝑃 = ( ) (𝑠𝑏) = ( ) (0.088 × 0.075) = 2.84592 𝑁
2 2

𝑀𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑑𝑢𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 = (𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡)(𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑟𝑚) = (240 𝑚𝑚)(2𝑁)

= 480 𝑁. 𝑚𝑚

𝑀𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑑𝑢𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝐹𝑝 = (𝐹𝑝)(𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑟𝑚 𝐼𝑑 ) = (2.84592)(170.6666667) = 485.7036 𝑁. 𝑚𝑚

480 − 485.7036
% 𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟 = | | × 100 = 1.174296%
480

𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑠 > 100 (𝑠 = 103 𝑚𝑚):

ℎ2 1002
𝑦𝑐𝑝 = (𝑠 − 50) + ( ) = (110 − 50) + ( ) = 73.88888889 𝑚𝑚
12(𝑠 − 50) 12(110 − 50)

𝐼𝑑 = 200 − 𝑠 + 𝑦𝑐𝑝 = 200 − 110 + 73.88888889 = 163.8888889 𝑚𝑚

𝐹𝑝 = 𝜌𝑔(𝑠 − 0.05)(0.1)(𝑏) = 1000 × 9.8 × (0.110 − 0.05) × 0.1 × 0.075 = 4.41 𝑁

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 𝑀𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑑𝑢𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 = (𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡)(𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑟𝑚) = (240 𝑚𝑚)(3𝑁)
= 720 𝑁. 𝑚𝑚

𝑀𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑑𝑢𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝐹𝑝 = (𝐹𝑝)(𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑟𝑚 𝐼𝑑 ) = (4.41)(163.8888889) = 722.75 𝑁. 𝑚𝑚

720 − 722.75
% 𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟 = | | × 100 = 0.381944%
720

Table 2: Center of pressure.

Lever Appended Water Cp from free surface Calc. lever Resultant force Moment Moment %Error
arm weight level ycp=ӯ+I/(ӯ*A) arm ID FP (N) due to due to
(mm) (N) reading (mm) (mm) FP=P*A weight Fp
s (mm) and (N.mm)
lever
(N.mm)
For s<100 For s>100 For For
s<100 s>100
ycp=s*2/3 (s-50) 200-s+ycp (pgs/2) pg(s-
+(ℎ2 /12(s- *(sb) 50)
50)) *100*b
240 2 88 58.66666667 170.6666667 2.84592 480 485.7036 1.17429
240 3 110 73.88888889 163.8888889 4.41 720 722.75 0.38194
240 4 132 92.16260163 160.1626016 6.027 960 965.3 0.552

4. Discussion / Analysis
The proposed method was to evaluate the clockwise and counterclockwise moments and
see if they were equal. We noticed in the experiment that the more water we add the more wight
we need to establish the equilibrium balance for the stop pin, and two of our results showed that
water level is s>100 mm to establish the equilibrium. We find the error for s > 100mm is very low.

5. Conclusion
The center of pressure is affected by the depth of water, by increasing water level the center
of pressure increase, but the center of area is constant, so the difference between the two centers
is increasing with the increase of water level.

ME322_Thermo_Fluids Lab Page 7

6. References
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkco6QTuQIE
https://units.imamu.edu.sa/colleges/en/Engineering/studyprograms/Documents/ME%20Lab%20Manuals/Manual%
20Thermo-Fluid%20Lab.pdf
https://mathalino.com/reviewer/fluid-mechanics-and-hydraulics/total-hydrostatic-force-plane-and-curved-surfaces

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