Fluid Statics

Lecture -4
 Buoyancy & Stability
Examples of types of Buoyancy Problems:
Introduction:
 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.
 Floating and Sinking
 There is always a downward force in
a submerged object, the object’s
weight.
 If the weight of the object is greater
than the buoyant force, the net force
on a submerged object will be
downward and the object will sink.
Sinking and Floating

 The object will only sink

deep enough to displace a
volume of fluid with a
weight equal to its own.
At that point, it will stop
sinking deeper and will
float.
 Floating and Sinking

 If the weight of the object is

less than the buoyant force,
the object will float.

 If the weight of the object is

exactly equal to the buoyant
force, the two forces are
balanced.
Ships
 The shape of a ship causes it to displace a greater
volume of water than a solid piece of steel of the
same mass. The greater the volume of water
displaced, the greater the buoyant force. A ship
stays afloat as long as the buoyant force is greater
than its weight.
Buoyancy
 Water exerts a force called a buoyant force that acts
on a submerged object.

 The buoyant force acts in the upward direction,

against the force of gravity, so it makes an object
feel lighter.
Buoyancy

 As you can see in the picture, a fluid

exerts pressure on all surfaces of a
submerged object. Since the pressure
in a fluid increases with depth, the
upward pressure on the bottom of the
object is greater than the downward
pressure on the top. The result is a net
force in the upward direction. This is
the buoyant force.
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:

Fd  Buoyant force
Fd   f Vd  f  Specific weight of fluid
Vd  Displaced volume of fluid
 Submerged Objects
 Submerged objects take the place
of a volume of fluid equal to it’s
own volume.

 Objects that float on top of the

water only take the place of the
volume of fluid equal to the
volume of the amount of the object
in the fluid.
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.”
Center of Buoyancy:
 It is defined as:
“The point, through which the force of buoyancy is supposed
to act.”
 As the force of buoyancy is a vertical force and is equal to the
weight of the fluid displaced by the body, the centre of
buoyancy will be the centre of gravity of the fluid displaced.
 In other words, the centre of buoyancy is the centre of area of
the immersed section.
 Problem-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.

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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 wh en 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
Metacentre:
 “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
metacentre.”
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.
 More the metacentric height of a floating body, 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
Metacentric Height:

BM = I/V
BM= Moment of inertia of the plan/ Volume of water displaced
GM  BM  BG
--Now metacentric height,

Note: +ve sign is to be used if G is lower than B and,

–ve sign is to be used if G is higher than B.
Problems:
1. A rectangular block of 5m long, 3m wide and
1.2m deep is immersed 0.8m in the sea water. If
the density of sea water is 10kN/m2, find the
metacentric height of block.
2. A solid cylinder of 2m diameter and 1m height is
made up of a material of Sp. Gravity 0.7and floats
in water. Find its metacentric height.
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
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.
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 metacentre (M) is lower than
centre of gravity (G) of the floating body.
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) concides with
centre of gravity (G) of the floating body.
Problems:
3. A rectangular timber block 2m long, 1.8m wide and 1.2m
deep is immersed in water. If the specific gravity of the
timber is 0.65, prove that it is in stable equilibrium.
4. A cylindrical buoy of 3m diameter and 4m long is weighing
150N. Show that it cannot float vertically in water.
5. A solid cylinder of 360mm long and 80mm diameter has its
base 10mm thick of specific gravity 7. The remaining part of
cylinder is of specific gravity 0.5. Determine, if the cylinder
can float vertically in water.