FLUID MECHANICS: Chapter 01 4

CHAPTER 01:
HYDROSTATIC PRESSURE
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After completing this chapter, you should be able to:
 Understand the terminologies involved in the static pressure analysis of fluids.
 Determine the intensity of pressure at various locations in a fluid at rest.
 Explain the concept of manometers and apply appropriate equations to determine pressures.

CH01-01: HYDROSTATIC PRESSURE

 The term pressure is used to indicate the normal force per unit area at a given
 The hydrostatic pressure or fluid pressure is the normal stress on any plane through a fluid element at rest.

Terms commonly used in static pressure analysis include:

 Pressure Head – the pressure intensity at the base of a column of homogeneous fluid of a given height in meters.
 Vacuum – a perfect vacuum is a completely empty space in which, therefore the pressure is zero.
 Atmospheric Pressure – the pressure at the surface of the earth due to the head of air above the surface. At sea
level, the atmospheric pressure is about 101.325kN/m2
 Gauge Pressure – the pressure measured above or below atmospheric pressure.
 Absolute Pressure – pressure measured above absolute zero or vacuum
o Absolute Pressure = Gauge Pressure + Atmospheric Pressure
 Manometer – is a tube usually bent in the form of a U, containing a liquid of known specific gravity, the surface of
which moves proportionally to changes of pressure.
 Piezometer – simplest form of manometer. It is a tube tapped into the wall of a container or conduit for the
purpose of measuring pressure.

CH01-02: HYDROSTATIC PRESSURE, UNIT WEIGHT AND PRESSURE HEAD

HYDROSTATIC PRESSURE

𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑖𝑑 (𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡)(𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒)

𝐻𝑦𝑑𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒, 𝑃 = =
𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎

(𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡)[(𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎)(ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡)]
= = (𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡)(ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡)
𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎
 FLUID MECHANICS: Chapter 01 5

𝐹 𝛾𝑉 𝛾 (𝐴ℎ)
𝑃= = =
𝐴 𝐴 𝐴

𝑷 = 𝜸𝒉

Where: 𝛾 = 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑖𝑑

ℎ = 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑

CH01-03: HYDROSTATIC LAW

 Hydrostatic Law States that the hydrostatic pressure in a fluid increases with increasing depth.

𝑷𝟐 = 𝑷𝟏 + 𝜸𝒉

 Take note that the pressure head and unit weight are directly proportional to the pressure stress. Thus, either of
these increases, the pressure will also increase.

 To standardize the solutions when dealing with problems involving hydrostatic pressure, consider that the
pressure is due to the pull of gravity. Accordingly, from any reference point, downward direction will be positive or
that the pressure stress will be added to the pressure from the given reference point and pressure head in upward
direction will be negative or to be subtracted.
o Downward – add
o Upward - subtract

CH01-04: PASCAL’S LAW

 Pressure applied to a fluid is transmitted unchanged throughout the fluid.
 FLUID MECHANICS: Chapter 01 6

CH01-05: CONSTANTS
𝑘𝑁 𝑁
𝛾𝑤 = 9.81 𝛾𝑎𝑖𝑟 = 12.07
𝑚3 𝑚3

𝑙𝑏𝑠
𝛾𝑤 = 62.4
𝑓𝑡 3
Atmospheric Pressure (at sea level):
𝑃𝑎𝑡𝑚 = 101.325 𝑘𝑃𝑎
𝑘𝑔
𝜌𝑤 = 1000 3 𝑃𝑎𝑡𝑚 = 14.7 𝑃𝑠𝑖
𝑚
𝑃𝑎𝑡𝑚 = 760 𝑚𝑚𝐻𝑔
CH01-06: SAMPLE PROBLEMS

1. (CE Board May 2003) An amount of carbon tetrachloride having a mass of 500kg and a volume of 0.315m3 is placed
in a container. Determine the following;
a. Weight of carbon tetrachloride.
b. Density of carbon tetrachloride.
c. Unit weight of carbon tetrachloride.
2. An open tank contains water, covered with kerosene. Find the pressure at the interface and at the bottom of the
tank. (γkerosene=8kN/cu.m, h1=4.8m, h2=6.3m)

3. (CE Board May 1998) A tank contains oil with specific gravity of 0.80, gasoline with specific gravity of 0.90, and sea
water with specific gravity of 1.05. What is the pressure at a depth of 1.20m if the depths of the liquids are .50m,
.60m, and .80m, respectively?

4. (CE Board May 1994) Assuming specific weight of air to be constant at 12N/m3, what is
the approximate height of Mt. Banahaw if a mercury barometer at the base of the
mountain reads 654mm and at the same time another mercury barometer at the top of
the mountain reads 480mm.

5. (CE Board May 2000) A pressure gauge at elevation 10m at the side of a tank containing
a liquid reads 80kPa. Another gauge at elevation 4m reads 120kPa. Find the specific gravity of the liquid.
 FLUID MECHANICS: Chapter 01 7

6. A pressure gauge is located at the bottom of a tank containing oil with specific gravity of .80 and the tank is filled
to a height of 5m.
a. Determine the gauge pressure at the bottom of the tank.
b. Determine the absolute pressure at the bottom of the tank.

7. For a tank containing different liquids as shown at Fig.2-6;

a. Determine elevation of the liquid surface in piezometer A
b. Determine elevation of the liquid surface in piezometer B

8. Determine the pressure at pt. A, in psi, due to the deflection of the

mercury with specific gravity equal to 13.6 in the U-tube gauge shown at
Fig.2-8.
9. In Fig.2-11, find the specific gravity of Liquid B if pressure at point A is
equal to negative 10.89kPa

10. Find the pressure difference between A and B for the setup shown in Fig.2-12;

y y

Fig. 2-12

11. Calculate the weight of the piston if the gauge pressure at point A is equal to 70kPa. Consider Fig. 2-22
 FLUID MECHANICS: Chapter 01 8

CHAPTER 01 REFLECTION

In Chapter 01:
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