Buoyancy and Floatation
Buoyancy and Floatation
Buoyancy and Floatation
BUOYANCY Archimedes’ Principle – (1) Any body immersed in a fluid is acted upon by
1
an unbalanced upward force called the buoyant force, which is equal to the weight of
the fluid displaced. (2) A floating body displaces its own weight in the fluid in which it
floats.
BF F VD
body SGbody
VD Vbody Vbody
BF
liquid SGliquid
BF
A floating body is acted upon by two opposing forces. These are, the body’s weight
W (acting at its center of gravity) and its buoyant force BF (acting at the center of
buoyancy that is located at the center of gravity of the displaced liquid).
When these forces are collinear shown in figure (a), it floats in an upright position.
However, when the body tilts due to wind and wave action, the center of buoyancy shifts
to its new position as shown in figure (b) and the two forces, which are no longer collinear,
produces a couple. The body will not overturn if this couple makes the body rotate towards
its original position as shown in figure (b), and will overturn if the situation is as shown in
figure (c)
The point of intersection between the axis of the body and the line of action of the
buoyant force is called the metacenter. The distance from the metacenter (M) to the
center of gravity (G) of the body is called the metacentric height (MG). It can be seen
that a body is stable if M is above G as shown in figure (b), and unstable if M is below G as
shown in figure (c). If M coincides with G, the body is said to be just stable.
CE 141 cubic_v
HYDRAULICS 1 2020
2
ELEMENTS OF A FLOATING BODY
RM or OM = W(x) = W(MGsinθ)
CE 141 cubic_v
HYDRAULICS 1 2020
Value of MBo
3
The stability of the body depends on the amount of the righting moment which in
turn dependent on the metacentric height MG. When the body tilts, the center of
buoyancy shifts to a new position. This shifting also causes the wedge to shift to a new
position. The moment due to the shifting of the buoyant force is must equal to moment to
wedge shift.
𝑣𝑠
𝑀𝐵𝑜 =
𝑉𝐷 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃
Initial Value of MBo
For small values of θ, (θ≈0 or θ=0)
𝐼
𝑀𝐵𝑜 =
𝑉𝐷
Note: This formula can be applied to any section
𝐵2 𝑡𝑎𝑛2 𝜃
𝑀𝐵𝑜 = (1 + )
12𝐷 2
CE 141 cubic_v