1.

2.

The pressure of the gas trapped in a capillary tube depends on the position of the tube.
Figure below shows the pressure of the gas when the capillary tube is horizontal, vertical and
vertically upside down.

Example 2:

Figure above shows some air trapped in a J-tube. Find the pressure of the trapped air. [Density of
water = 1000 kg/m; Atmospheric pressure = 100,000 Pa]
Answer:

Pgas=Patm+hgPgas=(100,000)+(0.2)(1000)(10)Pgas=102,000Pa

Accelerated horizontally
Fluid masses subjected to horizontal acceleration

Overview

Consider a tank, originally at rest and containing some liquid. We know that the liquid, at rest,
maintains its surface level as shown in fig-1(a). Now let the tank move towards the right side with a
uniform acceleration.

As the tank starts moving, we find that the liquid surface does not remain level any more. But the
liquid surface fall down on the front side and rises up on the back side of the of the tank as shown in
fig-1(b). The static pressure on the back side and front side due to liquid are shown in fig-1(c).
Let,

= Angle, which the liquid surface makes with the

horizontal, and
= Horizontal acceleration of the tank

Now consider any particle A on the inclined liquid surface as shown in fig-2. We know that the force
acting on the liquid particle are :
1. Weight of the particle (W) acting vertically down,
2. Accelerating force (F) acting horizontally towards right, and
3. Pressure (P) exerted by the liquid particles normal to the free surface.
We know that the weight of the particle,
where, m = Mass of liquid particle, g = Gravitational acceleration
Similarly, accelerating force,
Now resolving the forces horizontally at A,
(1)
And resolving the forces vertically at A,

(2)
Dividing equation (1) by (2)

(3)
Now consider the equilibrium of the entire mass of the liquid. Let,

P1 = Hydrostatic pressure on the back side of the

tank, and

P2 = Hydrostatic pressure on the front side of the

tank

Therefore, Net pressure,

Now as per Newton's Law of Motion, this net pressure,

(4)
Example: 1
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Example - Fluid masses subjected to horizontal acceleration

Problem

An open rectangular tank 3m long. 2.5m wide and 1.25m deep is completely filled with water. If the
tank is moved with an acceleration of 1.5m/s2, find the slope of the free surface of water and the
quantity of water which will spill out of the tank.

Workings

Given,

=3m

= 2.5 m

= 1.25 m

= 1.5 m/s2

Slope of the free surface of water

Let, = Angle which the free surface of water will make with the horizontal.
From equation (#3) we know that,

Quantity of water which will spill out of the tank

From the above figure we can see that the depth of water on the front side,
Quantity of water which will spill out of the tank,

Solution

Slope =
Quantity of water =

litres

Accelerated along inclined

plane
Fluid masses subjected to acceleration along inclined plane
View version details

Overview
Consider a tank open at top, containing a liquid and moving upwards along inclined plane with a
uniform acceleration as shown in fig-1(a).

We know that when the tank starts moving, the liquid surface falls down on the front side and rises up
on the back side of the tank as shown in fig-1(b).

Let,

= Inclination of the plane with the horizontal

= Angle, which the liquid surface makes with the
horizontal, and
= Acceleration of the tank

Now consider any particle A on the liquid surface. We know that the forces acting on the liquid particle
are :
1. Weight of the particle (W) acting vertically down.
2. Accelerating force (F) on an angle with the horizontal.
3. Pressure (P) exerted by the liquid particles normal to the free surface.
Now resolving the accelerating force (F) horizontally and vertically, we get
and
We know that the weight of the particle,
Similarly, the accelerating force,
Now resolving all the forces horizontally at A,

(1)
And resolving all the forces vertically at A,

(2)
Dividing equation (1) by (2)

where,

aH = horizontal component of the acceleration

aV = vertical component of the acceleration

Example: 1
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Example - Fluid masses subjected to acceleration along inclined plane

Problem

A rectangular box containing water is accelerated at 3m/s 2 upwards on an inclined plane 30 degree to
the horizontal. Find the slope of the free liquid surface.
Workings

Given,

= 3 m/s2

Let, = Angle which the water surface will make with the horizontal.
Horizontal component of the acceleration,
(1)
vertical component of the acceleration,
(2)

(3)
(4)
Solution

Slope of the free liquid surface =

Accelerated vertically
Fluid masses subjected to vertical acceleration
Contents
1.

Overview

2.

Page Comments

Overview
Consider a tank open at top, containing a liquid and moving vertically upwards with a uniform
acceleration. Since the tank is subjected to an acceleration in the vertical direction only, therefore the
liquid surface will remain horizontal.

Now consider a small column of the liquid of height h and area dA in the tank as sown in fig-1.
Let, = Pressure due to vertical acceleration
We know that the forces acting on this column are :
1. Weight of the liquid column

acting vertically downwards,

2. Acceleration force,
3. Pressure
exerted by the liquid particles on the column.
Now resolving the forces vertically,

Example: 1
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Example - Fluid masses subjected to vertical acceleration

Problem

An open rectangular tank 4m long and 2.5m wide contains an oil of specific gravity 0.85 up to a depth
of 1.5m. Determine the total pressure on the bottom of the tank, when the tank is moving with an
acceleration of of g/2 m/s2 (i) vertically upwards (ii) vertically downwards.
Workings

Given,

=4m

= 2.5 m

= 1.5 m

= g/2 m/s2

Specific gravity of liquid = 0.85

(i) Total pressure on the bottom of the tank, when it is vertically upwards
Specific weight of oil,
Intensity of pressure at the bottom of the tank,

Total pressure on the bottom of the tank,

(i) Total pressure on the bottom of the tank, when it is vertically downwards
Intensity of pressure at the bottom of the tank,

Total pressure on the bottom of the tank,

Fluids in Rigid Body Motion

Introduction
Recall, for the case of rigid body motion, the equation of
motion for fluid flow (the Navier-Stokes equation) reduces to

Note that a new "effective gravity" vector, G, has been

defined as the vector sum of gravity and the negative of the
acceleration vector. This new effective gravity vector can be
obtained with a little trigonometry as the resultant vector of
adding g and -a.

 There are two cases of rigid body motion to be

discussed: uniform linear rigid body acceleration,
and rigid body rotation.
Uniform Linear Rigid Body Acceleration
Consider the case where the fluid is accelerated uniformly in
some direction. In other words, each fluid particle in the
container feels exactly the same acceleration vector, which
is constant in time. In such a case, since both the gravity
vector and the acceleration vector are constant, the
effective gravity vector, G, must also be constant.
Notice, then, that the equation of motion is identical to the
hydrostatics equation, except that gravity g is replaced by
effective gravity G. This makes problems of this type no
more difficult than simple hydrostatics. In fact, for uniform
linear rigid body acceleration, the solution is identical to that
of hydrostatics, but with g replaced by G, and with z (parallel
to g, i.e. down) replaced by s (parallel to G). A good way to
remember this is to imagine that the accelerating fluid is
instead sitting on a planet where gravity acts in some
strange direction (that of vector G) and with some
magnitude G. One consequence of this is that isobars must
be perpendicular to G, i.e. perpendicular to direction s. In
fact, the pressure increases linearly with distance s, rather
than with z.

 As an example, consider a glass of water in an elevator

which is accelerating up:

Here, the effective gravity is still downward, but of greater

magnitude than g. The isobars are still horizontal surfaces as
in hydrostatics. In fact, everything is identical to hydrostatics
except for a larger gravity (pretend for example that the
glass is sitting on the planet Jupiter). Our simple hydrostatic
pressure relationship still applies, but with g replaced by G,
and z replaced by s, i.e.

Also note that "below" and "above" are relative to coordinate

s rather than z as well. All else being equal, the pressure at
the bottom of the accelerating glass will be greater than that
at the bottom of the stationary glass (because G is greater
than g).
o Now consider a glass of water in an elevator that
accelerates uniformly to the right. Again, the effective
gravity vector can be constructed as shown:

Now, since the effective gravity is tilted at some angle

to the lower left, the isobars must be perpendicular to
this direction. The isobars are thus titled down and to
the right as sketched. Note that the surface remains an
isobar of constant pressure pa, and is therefore also
tilted as sketched. At some point 1 in the fluid, the
pressure can be found from the revised hydrostatic
pressure relationship as follows:

Rigid Body Rotation

 Consider a container of some liquid which is rotating about a

vertical axis at some constant angular velocity, as shown in
the sketch:

For any kind of rigid body motion, the equation of motion for
fluid flow (the Navier-Stokes equation) reduces to

In rigid body linear acceleration, effective gravity vector, G,

was constant everywhere in the fluid. Here, this is no longer
the case, since the acceleration of a fluid particle rotating
about some axis varies with distance from the axis. In fact,
for circular motion, the acceleration is always inward,
towards the center of rotation (centripetal acceleration). This
acceleration increases linearly with radius (see text for
derivation):

Thus, the effective gravity vector, G, is not constant, but

varies with radius. In the sketch below, the effective gravity
vector at point A is constructed:

Locally, the isobars near point A are of course still

perpendicular to G, and they are shown.
At other points in the flow, however, the local effective
gravity vector is different, since the local acceleration is
different. For example, at point B (at a bigger radius than
point A) the inward acceleration vector is larger, and G tilts
further to the right as sketched below:

The local isobars around point B, being perpendicular to the

local effective gravity vector, are thus tilted to the upper
right even more severely than at point A. At the centerline
(point C), the local acceleration is zero, and the effective
gravity is identical to the standard gravity; isobars near the

centerline of the rotating liquid are horizontal, just as in

hydrostatics:

If this kind of analysis is done everywhere in the flow, the

isobars turn out to be paraboloids, which are constructed by
rotating a parabola about its axis to generate an
axisymmetric surface:

The free surface is of course an isobar, since its pressure is

atmospheric. Pressure increases perpendicular to the
isobars.

 The text provides a more detailed mathematical derivation

of the equations for pressure and for the isobars. If the origin
is defined at the lowest point on the free surface, as shown
in the sketch above, the equations for pressure and for the
isobars are:

When p = pa, the second equation above becomes an

equation describing the free surface. When p is greater than
pa, this equation describes isobars below the surface (at
higher pressure). Now denote h as the difference between
the height at the center of the free surface and the rim of
the free surface. It turns out that, compared to the original
free surface (container not rotating at all), the surface dips
down at the center an amount (h/2) equal to the amount the
surface rises at the rim (also h/2). This is illustrated below:

Consider a numerical example. A container of water of

radius 4.0 inches rotates at a fixed angular velocity of 100
rpm. Estimate h:

A simple experiment with a rotating cup of water can show

that this prediction is quite accurate.
Notice that density does not appear in the equation for the
isobars or in the equation for h. Thus, the water could be
replaced with any other liquid, and the result would be
identical. Pressure would increase more rapidly with depth
for a denser liquid, but the shape of the free surface would
stay the same, regardless of the liquid used. Furthermore,
since this is rigid body rotation, portions of the liquid could
even be removed or replaced with solid material. In this way,
any rotating chunk of liquid, regardless of its shape, can be
analyzed as if it were part of a big container rotating about
the z-axis as in the figures above.