Hydrostatic Force On A Submerged Surface
Hydrostatic Force On A Submerged Surface
ABTRACT
This experiment serves as a way to measure the total horizontal hydrostatic force
that a liquid can exert on a plane surface by computing the moment caused by adding
an appropriate counterweight to balance the experimental set-up.
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this experiment is to experimentally locate the center of pressure
of a vertical, submerged, plane surface. The experimental measurement is compared
with a theoretical prediction. The experiment yielded results which are also similar to the
theoretical values taken, with slight errors probably due to inaccuracies in measurement
of values.
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
The y-direction position of the center of pressure, yP, is yP = y + I .
yA
where I is the centriodal moment of inertia of the surface about the x-axis, and A is the
surface area. The counterweight is adjusted so that the beam is horizontal when there is
no water in the tank and no weight in the pan. When the tank is filled with water, the
unbalanced hydrostatic force causes the beam to tilt. Adding weight W to the pan at a
distance L from the pivot O exerts a moment WL that counterbalances the resultant
moment due to the hydrostatic forces on the quarter-annulus-shaped body ABPQ.
WL is equal to the moment due to the hydrostatic force F acting on the vertical plane
surface. In this experiment the force F is not measured. Instead the theoretical value F =
pghA is assumed, where h is the depth of the centroid of the surface. The moment due
to F is measured and the theoretical value of F is used to compute the location of the
center of pressure. Balancing the moments about O gives
WL = F(H + yR)
Substituting F = pghA and solving for yP yields
yP = WL
- H
pghA
TEST RESULTS
From the experiment, these tables were obtained:
Trial
1
2
3
4
Trial
H (m)
Height (m) Volume (mL) Ybar (m) Ibar (m^4)
Area (m^2)
measured 0.200 - H
0.142
0.058
500
0.029 1.21945E-06
0.00435
0.115
0.085
800
0.0425 3.83828E-06
0.006375
0.101
0.099
1000
0.0495 6.06437E-06
0.007425
0.083
0.117
1200
0.0585 1.00101E-05
0.008775
No. of weights
measured
1
2
3
4
Yp, theo (m)
Ybar + Ibar/(Ybar*A)
0.038666667
0.056666667
0.066
0.078
Yp, calculated
(M/F) - H
0.080411425
0.069921412
0.078940364
0.088777389
28
39
47
58