Buoyancy and Effect of Vertical
Acceleration on Fluid Static
BUOYANCY AND STABILITY
Buoyant force: The upward force a fluid exerts on a body immersed in it. The buoyant force
is caused by the increase of pressure with depth in a fluid.
The buoyant force acting on the plate is equal
to the weight of the liquid displaced by the
plate.
For a fluid with constant density, the buoyant
force is independent of the distance of the body
from the free surface.
It is also independent of the density of the solid
body.
A flat plate of uniform thickness h submerged
in a liquid parallel to the free surface.
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The buoyant forces acting on a
solid body submerged in a fluid and
on a fluid body of the same shape
at the same depth are identical.
The buoyant force FB acts upward
through the centroid C of the
displaced volume and is equal in
magnitude to the weight W of the
displaced fluid, but is opposite in
direction. For a solid of uniform
density, its weight Ws also acts
through the centroid, but its
magnitude is not necessarily equal
to that of the fluid it displaces.
(Here Ws > W and thus Ws > FB;
this solid body would sink.)
Archimedes’ principle: The buoyant force acting
on a body immersed in a fluid is equal to the weight
of the fluid displaced by the body, and it acts upward
through the centroid of the displaced volume.
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For floating bodies, the weight of the entire body must be equal to the
buoyant force, which is the weight of the fluid whose volume is equal to the
volume of the submerged portion of the floating body:
A solid body dropped
into a fluid will sink,
float, or remain at rest
at any point in the fluid,
depending on its
average density
relative to the density
of the fluid.
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Stability of Immersed and
Floating Bodies
Stability is easily
understood by
analyzing a ball
on the floor.
For floating bodies such as ships, stability
is an important consideration for safety. 6
A floating body possesses vertical
stability, while an immersed neutrally
buoyant body is neutrally stable since it
does not return to its original position
after a disturbance.
An immersed neutrally buoyant
body is (a) stable if the center of
gravity G is directly below the center
of buoyancy B of the body, (b)
neutrally stable if G and B are
coincident, and (c) unstable if G is
directly above B.
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A ball in a trough between
two hills is stable for small
disturbances, but unstable
for large disturbances.
When the center of gravity G of an immersed
neutrally buoyant body is not vertically
aligned with the center of buoyancy B of the
body, it is not in an equilibrium state and
would rotate to its stable state, even without
any disturbance.
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A floating body is stable if the body is bottom-heavy and thus the center of
gravity G is below the centroid B of the body, or if the metacenter M is above
point G. However, the body is unstable if point M is below point G.
Metacentric height GM: The distance between the center of gravity
G and the metacenter M—the intersection point of the lines of action
of the buoyant force through the body before and after rotation.
The length of the metacentric height GM above G is a measure of the
stability: the larger it is, the more stable is the floating body. 9
LUQUIDS IN RIGID-BODY MOTION
Pressure at a given point has the
same magnitude in all directions, and
thus it is a scalar function.
In this section we obtain relations for
the variation of pressure in fluids
moving like a solid body with or
without acceleration in the absence of
any shear stresses (i.e., no motion
between fluid layers relative to each
other).
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Special Case 1: Fluids at Rest
For fluids at rest or moving on a straight path at constant velocity, all
components of acceleration are zero, and the relations reduce to
The pressure remains constant in any
horizontal direction (P is independent of
x and y) and varies only in the vertical
direction as a result of gravity [and thus
P = P(z)]. These relations are applicable
for both compressible and
incompressible fluids.
A glass of water at rest is a special
case of a fluid in rigid-body motion. If
the glass of water were moving at
constant velocity in any direction, the
hydrostatic equations would still apply. 12
Special Case 2: Free Fall of a Fluid Body
A freely falling body accelerates under the influence of gravity. When the air
resistance is negligible, the acceleration of the body equals the gravitational
acceleration, and acceleration in any horizontal direction is zero. Therefore,
ax = ay = 0 and az = -g.
In a frame of reference moving with
the fluid, it behaves like it is in an
environment with zero gravity. Also,
the gage pressure in a drop of liquid
in free fall is zero throughout.
The effect of acceleration on the
pressure of a liquid during free
fall and upward acceleration. 13
Acceleration on a Straight Path
Rigid-body motion of a liquid in a
linearly accelerating tank.
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Lines of constant pressure
(which are the projections of the
surfaces of constant pressure on
the xz-plane) in a linearly
accelerating liquid. Also shown is
the vertical rise.
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