1.

0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 OBJECTIVES

This experiment are to:

 Experimentally locate the centre of pressure of a vertical, submerged and
plane surface
 Determine the hydrostatic force due to water acting on a partially and fully
submerged surface
 Experimentally locate the accuracy of the equation derived from
hydrostatic theory.

1.2 HYDROSTATTIC THEORY

Fluid statics deals with problems associated with fluids at rest. The fluid can
be either gaseous or liquid. Fluid statics is generally referred to as hydrostatics when
the fluid is a liquid and as aerostatics when the fluid is a gas. Hydrostatic pressure is
the pressure exerted by a fluid at rest due to the weight of fluid above the surface.
Hydrostatic pressure increases in proportion to depth measured from the surface
because of the increasing weight of fluid exerting downward force from above
Hydrostatic pressure and its resulting force have a wide variety of applications.
 A plane surface located beneath the surface of a liquid is subjected to a
pressure due to the height of liquid above it. Increasing pressure varies linearly with
increasing depth resulting in a pressure distribution that acts on the submerged
surface. The analysis of this situation involves determining a force which is equivalent
to the pressure and finding the location of this force. The resulting force acting on a
plane surface can be calculated theoretically as

F=ρg y c A [1]

where ρ is the density of water, g is the gravitational acceleration, y c is the location of

centroid of the submerged area and A is the area.

The point through which this force acts is called the centre of pressure.
Hydrostatic theory shows that the centre of pressure of the submerged area can be
calculated by using equation below where y R is the distance of the centre of pressure
from the fluid surface, y C is the location of the centroid of the submerged area and Ixc
is the second moment of the area about its centroid.

I xc [2]
y R= y c +
yc A

In this experiment, the apparatus is comprised of a rectangular transparent

water tank, a fabricated quadrant, a balance arm, an adjustable counter-balance
weight, and a water-level measuring device. When the quadrant is immersed by
adding the water to the tank, the hydrostatic force applied to the vertical surface of the
quadrant can be determined by considering the hydrostatic force at any on the curved
surfaces is normal to the surface and resolves through pivot point because it is located
at the origin of the radius. Hydrostatic forces on the upper and lower curved surfaces
have no effect because the forces pass through the pivot. Besides that, the hydrostatic
force on vertical submerged face is counteracted by the balance weight. The resultant
hydrostatic force on the quadrant can be calculated by
 mgL=F y r [3]

where m is mass on the weight hanger, L is the length of the balance arm and F is
hydrostatic force.

From Equation 1, the hydrostatic force, F and distance of the centre of pressure
from the fluid surface, y R acting on the vertical face of the quadrant can be calculated
as:

Partially submerged vertical plane

1 2 [4]
F= ρgW d
2

where W is the width of the quadrant and d is the depth of immersion from the base of
the quadrant.

Next, substitute Equation 4 into Equation 3 and solving for y Ryields the
experimentally determined distance between the pivot point and center of pressure

mgL [5]
y R=
F

The theoretical depth of pressure below the free surface is

I xc
y P= +y
A yC C [6]

Using the parallel axes theorem gives

 [7]

Then by substituting Equation 7 into Equation 6 gives

2d
y P=
3
[8]

From geometry, the theoretical depth of centre of pressure below the pivot point is
y R= y P + R0−d
[9]

Combining Equation 8 and Equation 9 gives the theoretical depth of centre of

pressure which is
d
y R=R0 −
3
[10]

Fully Submerged Vertical Plane

For the case of fully submerged vertical face quadrant, the hydrostatic force is

[11]

By substituting Equation 11 into Equation 5, the experimental distance between the

pivot point and the center of pressure is

[12]

The theoretical depth of pressure below the free surface is given by Equation 6. Using
the parallel axes theorem for the fully submerged surface gives

[13]
By substituting Equation 13 into Equation 6 gives

[14]

Substituting Equation 14 into Equation 9 gives the theoretical depth of centre of

pressure below the pivot point which is

[15]
2.0 METHODOLOGY

2.1 MATERIALS AND APPARATUS

Figure 1: Apparatus for measuring the location of the centre of pressure.

2.2 METHODS

I. The length, L, diameter, D and width W of the arm and quadrant are
measured.

II. The apparatus is placed on the level surface and the screwed-in feet is adjusted
until the built- in circular spirit level indicates that the base is horizontal.

III. The balance arm is positioned on the knife edges and the arm is checked to
make sure it swings freely.

IV. The weight hanger is placed on the end of the balance arm and the arm is
leveled using the counter weight so that the balance arm is horizontal.

V. The 50 grams of weight is added to the weight hanger and water is added to
the tank.

VI. The drain valve at the end of the tank is closed and water iss added slowly
until the hydrostatic force on the end surface of the quadrant is balanced.

VII. The water height was recorded in mm.

VIII. Steps V-VII is repeated by adding 50 g weight each time until the final weight
of 300 g is reached.

IX. The water is drained off after the experiment completed.

3.0 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Table 1: Table of results.

yR
Depth of Immersion, d Hydrostatic Force, F yR
Mass (kg) (Experimental
(m) (N) (Theoretical)
)
0.050 0.039 0.6118 0.2245 0.1910
0.100 0.057 1.3068 0.2102 0.1850
0.150 0.071 2.0275 0.2032 0.1803
0.200 0.083 2.7708 0.1983 0.1763
0.250 0.095 3.6299 0.1892 0.1723
0.300 0.105 4.4243 0.1863 0.1692

y R (Experimental) – y C y R (Theoretical) - y C Erorr (%) Comment

0.2050 0.1715 17.54 Partially Submerged
0.1817 0.1565 13.62 Partially Submerged
0.1677 0.1448 12.69 Partially Submerged
0.1568 0.1348 12.44 Partially Submerged
0.1417 0.1248 9.77 Partially Submerged
0.1338 0.1167 10.11 Fully Submerged
 The design of the apparatus is similarly to the design of many engineering systems
such as water dams and liquid storage tanks. This design requires the determination of the
forces acting on the quadrant using fluid statics. On the quadrant, the hydrostatic forces form
a system of parallel forces, the magnitude of the force and its point of application need to be
determine, which is called the center of pressure. There is no any significant forces being
neglected in the experiment. The buoyancy force is not being neglected in the analysis of the
experimental data. Since the buoyancy force is defined as the net pressure force acting on a
submerged body, it will only contribute if the experiment consider the pressure force acting
in the horizontal and vertical directions. Instead this experiment consider the pressure forces
acting normal to the surface of the acrylic arc then the buoyancy force does not appear
because the normal forces on the curved surface. This is resulted from the design of the
experiment, which using the circular arc shape that will allow to measure the hydrostatic
pressure forces without accounting for the buoyancy effect.

From the raw data collected in the Table 2, the hydrostatic force and distance to the
centre of pressure can be calculated for both the theoretical and experimental. Once this is
done the theoretical and experimental distance to the centre of pressure are calculated. Then
the theoretical values to the actual values measured are compared. The percent difference is
then determined.

Hydrostatic Force Vs Depth of Immersion

5.000
4.500
Hydrostatic Force, F (N)

4.000
3.500
3.000
2.500
2.000
1.500
1.000
0.500
0.000
0.039 0.057 0.071 0.083 0.095 0.105

Depth of Immersion, d (m)

Figure 2: Graph of hydrostatic force, F (N) against depth of immersion, d (m).

 Mass Vs Depth of Immersion
0.350

0.300

0.250

0.200
Mass (g)

0.150

0.100

0.050

0.000
0.039 0.057 0.071 0.083 0.095 0.105

Depth of Immersion, d (m)

Figure 3: Graph of mass (kg) against depth of immersion, d (m).

From the Figure 2 and Figure 3, it is shown that as the depth of immersion increased,
the hydrostatic force increased and mass increase as well. Since the moment about the pivot
on the right end of the balance bridge arm must be equal to zero, the moment due to the
weight of the applied masses is equal to the moment due to the hydrostatic force on the
surface. As the height of water in the chamber increases, the applied mass must also increase
to counteract the moment due to the hydrostatic force acting on the quadrant. As the weight
grew larger, the moment about the pivot, even though the moment arm remained the same,
increased. This increased demanded the level of the water to be decreased in order to create a
longer moment arm for the hydrostatic pressure of the water to counter act the force of the
weight.
 yR - yc Vs Depth of Immersion
0.250

YR - YC , (m) 0.200

0.150
Experimental
Theoretical
0.100

0.050

0.000
0.039 0.057 0.071 0.083 0.095 0.105

Depth of Immersion, d (m)

Figure 3: Graph of y R - y C (m) against depth of immersion, d (m) for both

experimental and theoretical values.

From Figure 3, the distance of the theoretical ad experimental is measured and

compared. The distance is decreased as the depth of immersion is increased. Besides that the
percent error of the experiment is measured. The percent error is in the range of 9% to 8%.
This error may be due to a variety of mistakes in the experiment. For example, there is the
possibility of human error in reading when the balance arm is levelled to level indicator. This
would lead to an inaccurate depth of immersion reading, which would consequently affect
data that used to calculate. Besides that the applied masses were not weighed prior to their
application onto the weigh hanger. Thus, the applied mass may weigh more due to
accumulation of oils or dirt from being handled. Resulting in differences mass recorded.
4.0 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The objectives of the experiment are achieved. The centre of pressure of a vertical,
submerged, plane surface are located and the hydrostatic force due to water acting on a
partially and fully submerged surface are determined. From the experiment t is shown that
as the depth of immersion increased, the hydrostatic force increased and the distance to
the center of pressure decreased. There are few recommendations to overcome the error
during the experiment. The applied mass must be weighed prior to application on the
weight hanger. Thus, it will give more accurate mass and does not affected the calculated
results. Next, ensure the quadrant are wipe with wet clothes to prevent formation of
bubbles due to surface tension of the water.
5.0 APPENDIX
6.0 REFERENCES

B.R. Munson, D.F. Young, and T.H. Okiishi, Fundamentals of Fluid Mechanics, 4th ed.,
2002, Wiley and Sons, New York.

Cengel, Y. A. a. C. Fluid Mechanics: Fundamentals and applications, 3rd edition. 2014,

McGraw-Hill.

Ahmari, H. and Kabir, S. (2020). Experiment #1: Hydrostatic Pressure. [online]

Uta.pressbooks.pub. Available at:
https://uta.pressbooks.pub/appliedfluidmechanics/chapter/experiment-1/ [Accessed 25 Feb.
2020].