Chapter 2

HYDROSTATICS
& PRESSURE
• Hydrostatics is the study of fluids in
which there is no relative motion
between the fluid particles.
• If there is no relative motion, no
shearing stresses to be present.
• The only stress that exists is a
normal stress, the pressure, so it is
the pressure that is primary interest
in hydrostatics.
Fluid Statics
Fluid Statics deals with problems associated
with fluids at rest.
In fluid statics, there is no relative motion
between adjacent fluid layers.
Therefore, there is no shear stress in the fluid
trying to deform it.
The only stress in fluid statics is normal stress
Normal stress is due to pressure
Variation of pressure is due only to the weight of the
fluid → fluid statics is only relevant in presence of
gravity fields.
Applications: Floating or submerged bodies,
water dams and gates, liquid storage tanks, etc.
Hoover Dam
2.1 Pressure at a Point
• Pressure: the normal force per unit area at a
given point acting on a given plane within the
fluid mass of interest.
• How the pressure at a point varies with the
orientation of the plane passing through the
point?
• Since we are considering the situation in which there are no shearing
stresses, the only external forces acting on the wedge are due to the
pressure and the weight.
• To make the analysis as general as possible, we will allow the fluid element
to have accelerated motion.
• For moving fluids in which there is relative
motion between particles (so that shear
stresses develop), the normal stress at a
point is not necessarily the same in all
directions!
Governing Equation
• How does the pressure in a fluid in which
there are no shearing stresses vary from one
point to another?
• To answer this question, we will consider a
small rectangular fluid element removed
from an arbitrary position within the fluid
mass.
• There are two types of forces acting on this
element (also on fluids)
1. Surface forces >> due to the pressure
2. Body forces >> due to weight of the
element (there might be magnetic field
forces also)
• If the pressure at the center of the element is
p, then,
• The pressures at the faces can be obtained
using Taylor Series Expansion (by
neglecting high order terms):
Pressure Distribution in an
Incompressible Fluid at Rest
• They tell that the pressure in a fluid at rest does
not depend on x or y !
• Therefore in a horizontal plane, the pressure
does not change!
y

x
• The pressure decreases
when we move upward
in a fluid at rest!
• If the fluid is flowing , the pressure distribution
is very complex:
Example

• The water column in the

left weighs 45 N. If the
cross sectional area of the
column is 6.45 cm2
?
determine the height of the
column (pressure head).
• If you measure the pressure relative to the
local atmospheric pressure it is called gauge
pressure.
patm
zs
p  pabsolute  patm  d
z p d
pgauge  pabsolute  patm  d
 z
patm
absolute
pressure
Local atmospheric
pressure +gauge

Pressure
w
gauge pressure

-gauge
p
Absolute zero
Pressure at a Point
Pressure at any point in a fluid is the same in all
directions.
Pressure has a magnitude, but not a specific direction,
and thus it is a scalar quantity.
Pressure is defined as a normal force exerted by a fluid
per unit area.
Units of pressure are N/m2, which is called a pascal
(Pa).
Since the unit Pa is too small for pressures encountered
in practice, kilopascal (1 kPa = 103 Pa) and megapascal
(1 MPa = 106 Pa) are commonly used.
1 bar - 100000 Pa,1 millibar - 100 Pa,
1 atmosphere - 101325 Pa
1 mm Hg - 133 Pa
Absolute, gage, and vacuum pressures
Actual pressure at a give point is called
the absolute pressure.
Most pressure-measuring devices are
calibrated to read zero in the atmosphere,
and therefore indicate gage pressure,
Pgage=Pabs – Patm.
Pressure below atmospheric pressure are
called vacuum pressure, Pvac=Patm - Pabs.
Pgage=Pabs – Patm.

Pvac=Patm - Pabs.
• The pressure is not influenced from the size or
shape of the container!
Variation of Pressure with Depth

Pressure in a fluid at rest is independent of the

shape of the container.
Pressure is the same at all points on a horizontal
plane in a given fluid.
Variation of Pressure with Depth

In the presence of a gravitational

field, pressure increases with
depth because more fluid rests
on deeper layers.
To obtain a relation for the
variation of pressure with depth,
consider rectangular element
Force balance in z-direction gives
F z  maz  0
P2 Dx  P1Dx   g DxDz  0
Dividing by Dx and rearranging
gives
DP  P2  P1   g Dz   s Dz
Scuba Diving and Hydrostatic Pressure
 Scuba Diving and Hydrostatic Pressure

Pressure on diver at
1
30.5 m?   kg m
Pgage,2  gz   998  9.81 30.5m  298.5kPa
 
 m3  s2 
 1atm 
 298.5kPa   2.95atm
 101.325kPa 
30.5 m
Pabs,2  Pgage,2  Patm  2.95atm  1atm  3.95atm

Danger of emergency
2 ascent?
1 1  PV
PV 2 2 Boyle’s law
V1 P2 3.95atm
If you hold your breath on ascent, your lung   4
V2 P1 1atm
volume would increase by a factor of 4, which
would result in embolism and/or death.
Pascal’s Law

Pressure applied to a
confined fluid increases
the pressure throughout
by the same amount.
In picture, pistons are at
same height:

F1 F2 F2 A2
P1  P2    
A1 A2 F1 A1

Ratio A2/A1 is called ideal

mechanical advantage
 Example 2.1
Because of a leak in a
buried gasoline storage
tank, water has seeped in to
the depth shown in the
figure. The specific gravity
of the gasoline is SG=0.68.
Determine the pressure at
the gasoline–water interface
and at the bottom of the
tank.
 Measurement of Pressure
• There are numerous devices and techniques to
measure the pressure.
• Absolute pressure >0
• Gauge pressure can be either <0 or >0
• Negative pressure is referred as suction or
vacuum pressure.
• 69 kPa(abs)=
• -32.3 kPa(gauge)
• 32.3 kPa suction or 32.3 kPa vacuum
• Pressure unit → N/m2 (Pascal)
• As decribed previously it can be also
expressed in the height (m, mm, etc.) of a liquid
column. In addition, the type of the liquid
should be indicated (H2O, Hg, etc.)
• Example → Standard atmospheric pressure is
760 mm Hg (abs).
• The atmospheric pressure is measured with a mercury
barometer (Evangelista Torricelli, 1644):

patm  pv   m h
pv  0
patm   m h
The contribution of the vapor
pressure can be neglected!
Pv(mercury)=0.00016 kPa(abs)
at 20 °C
• If Patm=101.3 kPa and
γmercury=133kN/m3 what is the
height of the mercury column?
• What happens when water is used
instead of mercury?
• Can you compute hwater?
 Manometers
• Pressure of systems can be measured using
liquid columns in vertical or inclined tubes
which are called as manometers.
• There are three common types of manometers:
1) The piezometer tube
2) The U-tube manometer
3) The inclined-tube manometer
1) The piezometer tube

patm

A
The Manometer
An elevation change of
Dz in a fluid at rest
corresponds to DP/g.
A device based on this is
called a manometer.
A manometer consists of
a U-tube containing one
or more fluids such as
mercury, water, alcohol,
or oil.
Heavy fluids such as
mercury are used if large
P1  P2 pressure differences are
anticipated.
P2  Patm   gh
 Disadvantages of the piezometer
1) The pressure in the container has to b
greater than atmospheric pressure.
2) Pressure must be relatively small to
maintain a small column of fluid.
3) The measurement of pressure must be
of a liquid.
2) The U-tube Manometer
Differential U-tube Manometer

• Common gage fluids are Hg and H2O,

some oils, and must be immiscible.
• Temp. must be considered in very
accurate measurements, as the gage
fluid properties can change.
• Capillarity can play a role, but in many
cases each meniscus will cancel.
 Example 2.4
A closed tank contains
compressed air and oil
(SGoil=0.90) as shown. A
U-tube manometer using
Pressure gage mercury
(SGHg=13.6) is connected to
the tank as shown. The col-
umn heights are h1=91.4
cm, h2=15.2 cm, and
h3=22.9 cm. Determine the
gauge pressure of air.
3) Inclined Manometer
Mutlifluid Manometer
P1  Patm  h11g  h2 2 g  h3g

For multi-fluid systems

Pressure change across a fluid
column of height h is DP = gh.
Pressure increases downward, and
decreases upward.
Two points at the same elevation in a
continuous fluid are at the same
pressure.
Pressure can be determined by
adding and subtracting gh terms.

P2  h33 g  h2 2 g  h11g
Measuring Pressure Drops
PA  PB
P1  (a  h) 1g  P2  a1g  h 2 g
P1  P2  hg ( 2  1 )
Manometers are well
suited to measure
pressure drops across
valves, pipes, heat
exchangers, etc.
Relation for pressure
drop P1-P2 is obtained by
starting at point 1 and
adding or subtracting gh
terms until we reach point
2.
If fluid in pipe is a gas,
2>>1 and P1-P2= 2gh