Buoyancy and Stability

• Whenever a body is placed over a liquid, either it sinks down

or floats on the liquid.

• Two forces involve are:

1. Gravitational Force
2. Up-thrust of the liquid

• If Gravitation force is more than Upthrust, body will sink.

• If Upthrust is more than Gravitation force, body will float.
Buoyancy and Stability
Archimedes Principle:
• “Whenever a body is immersed wholly or partially in a fluid, it is buoyed up (i.e lifted up)
by a force equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the body.”
Buoyancy and Stability
Buoyancy:
• A body in a fluid, whether floating or submerged, is buoyed up by a
force equal to the weight of the fluid displaced.
• “The tendency of a fluid to uplift a submerged body, because of the
up-thrust of the fluid, is known as force of buoyancy or simply
buoyancy.”
• The buoyant force acts vertically upward through the centroid of the
displaced volume and can be defined mathematically by
Archimedes’ principle as follows:

𝐵𝐹 = Buoyant force
𝛾 = Specific weight of the fluid
𝑉 = Displaced volume of fluid
Sample Problems
1. Find the volume of the water displaced and position of centre of buoyancy for a
wooden block of width 2.5 m and of depth 1.5 m, when it floats horizontally in water. The
density of wooden block is 650 kg/m3 and its length 6.0 m.

2. A wooden block of 4m x 1m x 0.5m in size and of specific gravity 0.75 is floating in

water. Find the weight of concrete of specific weight 24k kN/m3 that may be placed
on the block, which will immerse the wooden block completely.

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3. From the figure below, it is shown that the gate is 1.0 m wide and is hinged at
the bottom of the gate. Compute the following:
a. The hydrostatic force in kN acting on the gate
b. The location of the center of pressure of the gate from the hinge
c. the minimum volume of concrete (unit weight = 23.6 kN/m3) needed to
keep the gate in closed position .
Solution:
 Problem-2
A wooden block of 4m x 1m x 0.5m in size and of specific gravity 0.75
is floating in water. Find the weight of concrete of specific weight 24k
kN/m3 that may be placed on the block, which will immerse the
wooden block completely.
Solution:
Let W be the weight of Concrete required to be placed on wooden block.
Volume of wooden block  4 x 1 x 0.5  2m3
and its Weight  9.81 x 0.75 x 2  14.72 kN

 Total weight of the block and concrete  14.72  W kN

We know that when the block is completely immersed in water,
volume of water displaced  2m3
 Upward thrust when the block is completely immersed in water
 9.81 x 2  19.62 kN
Now equating the total weight of block and concrete with upward thrust
14.72  W  19.62
W  4.9 kN
Buoyancy and Stability
Metacenter
• “Whenever a body, floating in a liquid, is given a small angular
displacement, it starts oscillating about some point. This point, about
which the body starts oscillating, is called metacenter.”
Buoyancy and Stability
Metacentric Height:
• “The distance between centre of gravity of a floating body and the
metacentre (i.e distance between cg and m in Fig.) is called metacentric
height.”
• Metacentric height of a floating body is a direct measure of its stability.
• The greater metacentric height of a floating body, the more it will stable
and vice versa.
• Some values of metacentric height:
• Merchant Ships = upto 1.0m
• Sailing Ships = upto 1.5m
• Battle Ships = upto 2.0m
• River Craft = upto 3.5m
 Buoyancy and Stability

Conditions of Equilibrium of a Floating Body:

• A body is said to be in equilibrium, when it remains in steady state,

While floating in a liquid following are the three conditions of
equilibrium of a floating body:
1. Stable Equilibrium
2. Unstable Equilibrium
3. Neutral Equilibrium
Buoyancy and Stability
1. Stable Equilibrium:
• A body is said to be in a stable equilibrium, if it returns back to its
original position, when given a small angular displacement.
• This happens when metacentre (M) is higher than centre of gravity
(G) of the floating body.
 Buoyancy and Stability
2. Unstable Equilibrium:
• A body is said to be in a Unstable equilibrium, if it does not return
back to its original position, when given a small angular
displacement.
• This happens when metacenter (M) is lower than centre of gravity
(G) of the floating body.
Buoyancy and Stability

3. Neutral Equilibrium:
• A body is said to be in a neutral equilibrium, if it occupies a new
position and remains at rest in this new position, when given a
small angular displacement.
• This happens when metacentre (M) coincides with centre of
gravity (G) of the floating body.
Strategy for solving buoyancy problems
(1)From geometry of body and density of fluid and body equate;
Weight of displaced fluid = Total weight of body. This gives the
depth of immersion of the body or the weight of the body, whichever
is unknown.
(2)To assess stability, first find the location of the center of gravity G of
the body.
(3)Then, find the location of the center of buoyancy Bo (centroid of
displaced volume). For a regularly shaped body this will be at half
the height of the immersed portion of the body.
(4)Calculate the distance GBo.
5. Calculate MBo,

Where: 𝑣 − volume of the wedge either immersion or emersion

𝑠 − horizontal distance between the center of gravity of the wedges
If the angular displacement θ = 0

For rectangular cross-section,

6. Calculate metacentric height, If MG > 0 then body is stable. If MG <
0 then body is unstable.
MG = MBo GBo
Note: Use (-) if G is above Bo
Use (+) if G is below Bo

Righting Moment or Overturning Moment

RM or OM = W(x) = W(MGsin
Sample Problems
1. A block of wood (SG = 0.64) is in the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped
having a 10-cm square base. If the block floats in salt water with its square
base horizontal, what is the maximum height for stable equilibrium in the
upright position?
Sample Problems
2. A rectangular scow 9 m wide, 15 m long, and 3.6 m high has a draft in sea
water of 2.4 m. Its center of gravity is 2.7 m above the bottom of the scow.
Determine the following:
a. The initial metacentric height
b. The righting or overturning moment when the scow tilts until one
side is just at the point of submergence.
Relative Equilibrium of Liquids

-Relative equilibrium of liquid is a condition where the

whole mass of liquid including the vessel in which the liquid
is contained, is moving at uniform accelerated motion with
respect to the earth, but every particle of liquid have no
relative motion between each other.
Relative Equilibrium of Liquids
Rectilinear Translation
• Horizontal motion
-If a mass of fluid moves horizontally along a straight line at constant
acceleration a, the liquid surface assume an angle θ with the horizontal,
From force polygon,

Note: REF – Reversed Effective Force

W – Weight of the fluid in the container
a – acceleration of the body
Relative Equilibrium of Liquids
Rectilinear Translation
• Inclined motion
-Consider a mass of fluid being accelerated up an incline α from
horizontal. The horizontal and vertical components of inertia
force REF would be respectively, x = mah and y = mav.

From force polygon,

Note: Use (+) sign for upward motion and (-) sign for downward motion.
Relative Equilibrium of Liquids
Rectilinear Translation
• Vertical motion
- Considering a mass of liquid moving vertically upward with a constant
acceleration a. The forces acting to a liquid column of depth h from the
surface are weight of the liquid W = γV, the inertia force REF = ma, and
the pressure F = pA at the bottom of the column.

Pressure acting at the bottom of the column,

Use (+) sign for upward motion
and (-) sign for downward
motion. Also note that a is
positive for acceleration and
negative for deceleration.
Sample Problems
1. An open rectangular tank mounted on a truck is 5 m long, 2 m wide and 2.5 high is
filled with water to a depth of 2 m. (a) What maximum horizontal acceleration can be
imposed on the tank without spilling any water and (b) determine the accelerating force
on the liquid mass?
(c) If the acceleration is increased to 6 m/s2, how much water is
spilled out?
 2. A vessel containing oil is accelerated on a plane inclined at 150 with the
horizontal at 1.2 m/s2. Determine the inclination of the oil surface when the motion
is (a) upward, and (b) downwards.

3. An open tank containing oil (SG = 0.8) is accelerated vertically at 8 m/s2.

Determine the pressure 3 m below the surface if the motion is (a) upward with a
positive acceleration, (b) upward with a negative acceleration, (c) downward with a
positive acceleration, and (d) downward with a negative acceleration.
Relative Equilibrium of Liquids
Rotational
• Rotating Vessel
- When a liquid mass is rotated about a vertical axis at a constant angular speed of ω
(in radians per second), every particle experiences a normal acceleration of 𝑎 which

is equal to = 𝜔 𝑥 where x is the particle’s distance from the axis of rotation. This
acceleration causes an inertia force (centrifugal force or REF).

From force polygon,

𝐶𝐹
𝑡𝑎𝑛𝜃 =
𝑊
𝑚𝑣
𝑡𝑎𝑛𝜃 =
𝑚𝑔𝑥

Where: ω – angular velocity

x – horizontal distance at a point along the curve from the axis of rotation
Relative Equilibrium of Liquids
Rotational
For the vertical distance at a point along the curve from the axis of rotation,

From calculus, slope = For cylindrical vessel of radius r revolved about its
vertical axis, the height h of paraboloid is,
𝑑𝑦
= 𝑡𝑎𝑛𝜃
𝑑𝑥
𝑑𝑦 𝜔 𝑥
=
𝑑𝑥 𝑔 By squared-property of parabola, the relationship
𝜔 of y, x, h and r is defined by
𝑑𝑦 = 𝑥𝑑𝑥
𝑔
𝜔
𝑑𝑦 = 𝑥𝑑𝑥
𝑔
Volume of paraboloid of revolution
4. An open cylindrical vessel having a height equal to its diameter is half-filled with
water and revolved about its own vertical axis with a constant angular speed of
120 rpm. Find its minimum diameter so that there can be no liquid spilled.