Department of Physics, System Engineering and Sign Theory

Polytechnic School - University of Alicante

Degree in Fundamentals of Architecture - Course 2022/23
Applied Physics 2. First mid-term exam (Chapters 1 & 2). 03/11/2022

• Please, use a black or blue pen, NEVER a pencil.

• It is allowed to use books, notes and any kind of tables, but it is no allowed any communication with
other classmates.
• Any notation that students introduce should be explained in the text briefly.
• All the steps performed for the resolution should be brief, but clearly explained in the text.
• Do all operations algebraically, finding the symbolic expressions and substituting numerical values in the
last step.
• Express all numerical results with its units and the right number of significant digits.
• Choose 3 problems from the proposed ones.

Problem 1 (3.0 points) An engineer is commissioned to build a reservoir open to the atmo-
sphere, the design of which is shown in the figure. The tank is to contain water (ρwater = 103
kg/m3 ) up to a height of H = 2.10 m. In order to measure the pressure, the engineer connects a
U-shaped tube to the tank. This tube is partially filled with a fluid with a density of ρ = 1.220
g/cm3 and which is immiscible with water. The point of contact between the water and the fluid,
C, is located at a height of h0 = 0.52 m with respect to the bottom of the tank. The wall AB has
a mass of 18.3 tonnes and is embedded in the ground. Given these conditions, determine:

a) The height h that the fluid reaches in the U-shaped tube.

b) The reaction force to which the wall is subjected at point B where it is embedded in the ground.

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 a) From the fundamental equation of fluid statics it is possible to express the pressure at point
C with the atmospheric pressure at which is found water on the top of the open tank:
pC = patm + ρwater g (2.10 − 0.52)
and with the atmospheric pressure at which the fluid at a height h in the U-tube with respect to
the bottom of the tank:

pC = patm + ρfluid g (h − 0.52)

Therefore, combining both equations and after simplifying we get:
1580
ρwater (2.10 − 0.52) = ρfluid (h − 0.52) =⇒ h = + 0.52 = 1.82 m
1220

b) The supporting force R~ B = (RBx , RBy ) and moment reaction M

~ B acting on the cantilever wall
can be obtained by applying the equations of equilibrium at point B. To set up the equilibrium
conditions, a free-body diagram (FBD) is drawn.

X
Fxi = 0 =⇒ F − RBx = 0 =⇒ RBx = F
X
Fyi = 0 =⇒ RBy − P = 0 =⇒ RBy = P = 1.79 × 105 N
To determine the reaction force RBx it is necessary to calculate the resultant force F of the
triangular distribution of pressure against the vertical face.
H
RBx = F = ρwater g zG S = ρwater g S = 2.51 · ρwater g H 2 = 1.08 × 105 N
2
Finally, the reaction force would be:
~ B = (RBx , RBy ) = −1.08 × 105 ~ı + 1.79 × 105 ~
R

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 Problem 2 (3.0 points) A tank of section S1 = 3.00 m2 , contains water up to a height
H = 2.00 m. At the base of the tank there is a circular hole, of section S2 = 4.0 cm2 , initially
closed by a plug. Considering an ideal fluid behaviour, answer the following questions.

a) What force is exerted on the cap? How high would the tank have to be if the cap could only
withstand a net pressure of 1.0 atm?
b) How fast would the water flow out if the cap was removed (considering the 2.0 m height of the
tank)? And how fast would it flow out if the discharge hole was connected to a horizontal pipe
of L = 8.00 m, the outlet diameter of which was narrowed to half the diameter of the hole?
c) Taking into account the viscosity of water (η = 1.00 × 10−3 Pa·s), with what speed would the
water leave the pipe assuming a Bernoulli regime?

a) The absolute pressure exerted at the bottom of the container is p = patm + ρwater g z. However,
the atmospheric pressure is also acting on the tap from the outside. Consequently, the net pressure
on the tap is the gauge pressure p = ρwater g z. The net force will be F = p S = 7.8 N. As the
maximum gauge pressure supported by the tap is 1.0 atm, the maximum height of water in the
container can be obtained by solving the equation:
pmax
pmax = ρwater g z 0 =⇒ z 0 = = 10.3 m
ρwater g

b) Opening the tap, water will have an initial velocity which can be derived by using the Torricelli’s
law, assuming S2 <<<< S1 : p
v = 2 g H = 6.3 m/s
Even with the addition of a tube, if the tube is at the same depth as the orifice and there is no
pressure loss, the outlet velocity will be the same, since the approximation that the outlet orifice
has a negligible cross-sectional area compared to the section of the container remains valid even
if the cross-sectional area of the outlet hole is changed.

c) In this case there is a pressure drop due to viscosity and Bernoulli’s equation must be modified
because we do not know the pressure at the end of the horizontal tube. Thus, between the free
surface of the container (point 1) and the outlet hole of the horizontal tube (point 3):
1 2 1
patm + ρ g H + ρ v1 = p3 + ρ v32
2 2
The pressure p3 = patm + ∆p, where ∆p is the pressure drop due to viscosity that it is related to
the volume flow rate through the Poiseuille’s law:

π R4 ∆p 8ηL
Q= = S3 v3 =⇒ ∆p = S3 v3
8ηL π R24

Note that in this expression the radius to be taken into account is the radius of the horizontal
tube, which is the same as the radius corresponding to S2 and not the radius corresponding to the
end of the pipe. By combining both equations, we have:

K 1/2
  
K K
v3 = −2 S3 + 2 S3 + 8 g H = 4.5 m/s
ρ ρ ρ

where the constant K = 8 η L/(π R24 ).

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Problem 3 (4.0 points) The frozen food storage room of a supermarket maintains an inside
temperature of tint = −16.0 ◦C when the average outside temperature is text = 18.0 ◦C. The ther-
mal resistance by conduction is R = 5.00 m2 h K/kcal. We want to reach an interior temperature
of −22.0 ◦C using the same refrigeration equipment and just covering the walls of the chamber
with a layer of thermal insulation of conductivity k = 0.040 kcal h−1 m−1 K−1 .

a) Is it possible to reach the new temperature in this way? Please explain why it is or is not. If yes,
what thickness of thermal insulation would be required to achieve the desired indoor temperature?

b) In addition, it is decided to place windows in the walls to view the contents of the chamber,
with a total surface area equal to 20% of the surface area of the walls. What thermal resistance
should the windows have so that the internal temperature of the chamber is not higher than
−14.0 ◦C?

a) Since the heat flow corresponds to the power of the installed refrigeration equipment, it is
possible to keep this value by increasing the numerator and the denominator of its expression
ϕ = ∆T /R. Therefore, by increasing the thermal resistance of the wall (by adding a layer of
insulation), the temperature difference is increased. If the outside temperature remains constant,
this implies that the inside temperature decreases.
According to the Fourier’s law, the heat flow rate by conduction can be obtained from:
∆T 34
ϕ= = = 6.8 kcal m−2 h−1 K−1
R 5
This heat flow rate must be the same by adding the insulate layer and taking into account the new
difference of temperatures.
 
∆T 40 40
ϕ= = =⇒ e = 0.04 · − 5 = 0.035 m
R + e/k +e/0.04 6.8

Consequently, the thickness of the thermal insulation is e = 3.5 cm.

b) Now, in order to find the heat flow through the walls and the windows it is needed to consider
heat conductors connected in parallel. Therefore, the heat flow through each individual conductor.
Note that the surface of each material is represented as a fraction of the total surface: Swall = 0.8 S
and Swindow = 0.2 S, respectively. It is also worth remembering that the heat flux obtained in the
previous question is per unit of area, as well as the thermal resistance. Thus we have:
   
0.8 0.2 0 0.8 0.2
ϕ= + ∆T =⇒ 6.8 = (18 − (−14)) · + =⇒
R + e/k Rwindow 5 + 0.035/0.04 Rwindow

=⇒ Rwindow = 2.6 m2 h K/kcal

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 Problem 4 (3.0 points) In the construction of a house, in a place where temperature changes
can be up to 40.0 ◦C, it is proposed to use steel beams of L = 8.00 m length each, with a square
section of side ` = 25.0 cm, placed horizontally. These are attached at their ends to vertical walls,
which can withstand horizontal forces of up to 500.0 kN. An architect, who is supervising the
work, proposes to use oak beams instead of steel beams. This type of wood, when subjected to
a temperature change of 100.0 ◦C, increases in volume by 1.2%. Which of the two solutions will
prevent the walls from yielding to the horizontal forces?

DATA: Coeficient of linear expansion of steel αsteel = 1.2 × 10−5 K−1 ; Esteel = 2.1 × 105 MPa;
Eoak = 15 kN/mm2 .

It is simply a matter of comparing the force exerted on the wall, due to thermal stress, by two
different materials. As the force, from the stress is F = σ S, it will be necessary to find the
thermal stresses (in short, s: steel and w: wood) S = `2 = 625 cm2 and σ = E α ∆T .

Fs = σs S = Es αs ∆T S = 6300 kN
In the case of wood, it is necessary to derive the coefficient of thermal expansion from the infor-
mation provided. For volumetric expansion we know that ∆V = V0 γw ∆T 0 , so that the relative
expansion ∆V /V0 = 0.012. Remembering that γw = 3 αw and ∆T 0 = 100 ◦C:

∆V
= 3 αw ∆T 0 = 0.012 =⇒ αw = 4.00 × 10−5 K−1
V0

Finally, taking into account that Ew = 15 kN/mm2 = 1.5 × 1010 N/m2 :

Fw = σw S = Ew αw ∆T S = 1500 kN

In conclusion, both solutions exceed the strength limits of the wall.