Hydrostatic pressure is the pressure which is exerted on a portion of a column of

water as a result of the weight of the fluid above it. Hydrostatic pressure is what is
exerted by a liquid when it is at rest. The height of a liquid column of uniform
density is directly proportional to the hydrostatic pressure.

The hydrostatic properties of a liquid are not constant and the main factors
influencing it are the density of the liquid and the local gravity. Both of these
quantities need to be known in order to determine the hydrostatic pressure of a
particular liquid.

The formula for calculating the hydrostatic pressure of a column of liquid in SI units
is:
Hydrostatic Pressure (Pa, N/m2) = Height (m) x Density(kg/m3) x Gravity(m/s2) .
The density of a liquid will vary with changes in temperature so this is often quoted
alongside hydrostatic pressure units e.g. inH2O @ 4 deg C. The local gravity depends
on latitudinal position and height above sea level.

For convenience the most common standard for hydrostatic pressure is metres or
inches of water at 4 deg C (39.2 degF) with a standard gravity of 9.80665 m/s2. The
density of pure water at 4 deg C is very close to 1000 kg/m3 and therefore this has
been adopted as the standard density of water. Another reason for the significance of
choosing 4 deg C is that it is very close to the temperature that water reaches its
maximum density.

In practical terms hydrostatic pressure units are rarely absolutely precise because the
temperature of any liquid is not always going to be 4 deg C. You will also come
across another temperature standard of 60 deg F (15.56 deg C). This can lead to
confusion and inaccuracies when the temperature is not labelled alongside the
hydrostatic pressure unit. For most applications these differences are not significant
enough to influence the results since the reading accuracy is often much wider than
the difference in the pressure unit conversion factor at these 2 temperatures.


In summary hydrostatic pressure units are a very convenient method for relating
pressure to a height of fluid but they are not absolute pressure units and it is not
always clear what density/temperature has been assumed in their derivation, so be
very cautious when using them for high precision level measurements. In fact some
institutions are discouraging their use because of the very reasons mentioned above.

Hydrostatic Force on a Flat Surface

horizontal view projection of AB on
the dam surface

The area AB of the back face of a dam inclines at an angle (q ), and X - axis lies on
the line at which the water free surface intersects with the dam surface,Y - axis
running down the direction of the dam surface.

For a strip at depth h below the free surface:




The total pressure force over the surface:

y d y dF F
A A
.A. sin A . sin

.A . h F
Where

is the distance measured from the x-axis to the centroid (C.G.) of the plane.
The total hydrostatic pressure force on any submerged plane surface is equal to the
product of the surface area and the pressure acting at the centroid (C.G.) of the plane
surface.Pressure forces acting on a plane surface are distributed over every part of the
surface. They are parallel and act in a direction normal to the surface. They can be
replaced by a single resultant force F = g h`A. acting normal to the surface. The point
on the plane surface at which this resultant force acts is known as the center of
pressure (C.P.).The center of pressure of any submerged plane surface is always
below the centroid of the surface (Yp > Y`).
sin y h P A . sin d y dF
A dA y y
A

y
y A
I
y A
y A I
M
I
y A
dA y
F
dF y
Y
o o
x
x A A
P

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