Hydrostatic Force

Hydrostatic force is the net force exerted by a fluid at rest on an immersed surface, arising from the fluid’s pressure and acting perpendicular to that surface. Pressure increases with depth according to the fluid’s density, gravitational acceleration, and distance below the free surface, so the total force depends on the surface area and the location of its center of pressure. Engineers use hydrostatic-force analysis to size dams, tank walls, flood barriers, submerged gates, and other structures, while also evaluating stability, support reactions, and buoyancy-related effects. Understanding these forces helps predict structural loads and improve the safety and efficiency of fluid-handling systems.

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JoVE Core - Civil Engineering

Hydrostatic Pressure Force on a Plane Surface

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2025

When a plane surface is submerged in a fluid, hydrostatic forces develop on the surface due to the fluid's pressure. For horizontal surfaces, the pressure exerted by the fluid is uniform because the depth remains constant. The resultant force is determined by the pressure at the given depth multiplied by the area of the surface, and it acts through the centroid of the surface. For vertical surfaces, the pressure varies with depth, increasing as the distance from the fluid's free surface...

Hydrostatic Pressure Force on a Curved Surface

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2025

Hydrostatic pressure on curved surfaces is a fundamental concept in fluid mechanics with broad applications in the civil engineering field. When fluid is in contact with a curved surface, as in a reservoir, dam, or storage tank, it exerts pressure that varies in magnitude and direction along the curved surface. To assess the total hydrostatic force exerted by the fluid on a curved structure, engineers typically isolate the fluid volume adjacent to the surface and analyze the forces acting on...

Applications of Integration to Find Hydrostatic Pressure

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2026

Hydrostatic force is a fluid's total force at rest on a surface. For a horizontal surface submerged at a fixed depth, the pressure is constant and calculated as the product of fluid density, gravitational acceleration, and depth. In the case of a vertical dam wall submerged in water, this force is not evenly distributed due to the increasing pressure with depth. This variation arises from the cumulative weight of the water above each point. Integration is used to account for the continuous...

Intermolecular Forces

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2020

Atoms and molecules interact through bonds (or forces): intramolecular and intermolecular. The forces are electrostatic as they arise from interactions (attractive or repulsive) between charged species (permanent, partial, or temporary charges) and exist with varying strengths between ions, polar, nonpolar, and neutral molecules. The different types of intermolecular forces are ion–dipole, dipole–dipole, hydrogen bonds, and dispersion; among these, dipole–dipole, hydrogen bonds, and dispersion...

Force and Acceleration

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2023

Source: Nicholas Timmons, Asantha Cooray, PhD, Department of Physics & Astronomy, School of Physical Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA The goal of this experiment is to understand the components of force and their relation to motion through the use of Newton's second law by measuring the acceleration of a glider being acted upon by a force. Nearly every aspect of motion in everyday life can be described using Isaac Newton's three laws of motion. They describe how objects in...

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