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Module 2 - Hydrostatic Pressure

This document discusses hydrostatic pressure and related concepts. It defines hydrostatic pressure as pressure in fluids at rest with no shear stresses or friction. It presents the hydrostatic differential equation which relates the variation of pressure to elevation or depth, and the hydrostatic equation which gives pressure as a function of depth for incompressible liquids. It also discusses calculating pressure in the atmosphere where air density varies with pressure and temperature. Example applications mentioned include hydraulic machines, manometers, and calculating pressure in tanks, underwater, at ski resorts, and during airplane flights.

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krikor
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320 views

Module 2 - Hydrostatic Pressure

This document discusses hydrostatic pressure and related concepts. It defines hydrostatic pressure as pressure in fluids at rest with no shear stresses or friction. It presents the hydrostatic differential equation which relates the variation of pressure to elevation or depth, and the hydrostatic equation which gives pressure as a function of depth for incompressible liquids. It also discusses calculating pressure in the atmosphere where air density varies with pressure and temperature. Example applications mentioned include hydraulic machines, manometers, and calculating pressure in tanks, underwater, at ski resorts, and during airplane flights.

Uploaded by

krikor
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Hydrostatic Pressure

 Hydrostatic implies that fluids are at rest.


 The only forces acting are the weight and the pressure force.
There are no shear stresses or frictional forces.
 Pressure is defined as the ratio of the normal force over an area
F
p=
A
 The pressure has units of Pascal, Pa = N/m2. It is a scalar
quantity, i.e., it has the same value in all directions.
 Absolute pressure is the pressure measured relative to absolute
zero (perfect vacuum).
 Gage pressure is the pressure measured relative to the local
atmospheric pressure. In mathematical terms, pabs = patm + pgage
 In most applications, one often deals with gage pressure as it is
easier.
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Hydrostatic Differential Equation
 For an elemental volume at equilibrium, the sum of the forces in
the horizontal and vertical direction is equal to zero.
 In the vertical direction, the sum of the forces includes the
weight of the elemental volume.
 The derivation results in a differential equation
dp
= −γ
dz
 This is known as the hydrostatic differential equation (HDE).
 It relates the variation of pressure with elevation or depth.
 Note that the coordinate z is defined as positive upward.

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Hydrostatic Equation
 For incompressible liquids (e.g., water), the density is constant.
 Integration of HDE from the surface to a water depth h yields
p = γh + p0
 h is the water depth (positive value) and p0 is the atmospheric
pressure at the water surface. p0 is equal to zero when the
hydrostatic equation is expressed in terms of gage pressure.
 This is known as the hydrostatic equation.

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Pressure in the Atmosphere
 For pressure calculations in the atmosphere, the density of air is
not constant. It is function of pressure and temperature (IGL)
p
ρ=
RT
 The temperature is also varying with elevation in a linear form
T = T0 − α ( z − z0 )
 Substituting the above equations in HDE and integrating, one
obtains g αR
 T0 − α ( z − z0 ) 
p = p0  
 T 0 
 p0 is the atmospheric pressure and T0 is the temperature at the
reference level z0, α is the lapse rate of 5.87 K/km, and R is the
specific gas constant of air.
 The above equation gives the pressure at any altitude.

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Application Examples
 The most well-known applications of this module are the
hydraulic machines (hydraulic jack, braking systems, power
steering systems … etc.).
 Other applications include manometers, the evaluation of
pressure in tanks, the pressure in the deep sea, the pressure in a
ski resort and in an airplane flight.

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