158
Hydrostatics and Aerostatics
When
the
fluid in
the
height h has a free surface
on
which
an
equally
large pressure
Po
acts
at
all points, it represents, because
of
the
relation
P =
!(x
2
),
a plane x
2
= const, i.e. a horizontal plane.
For
the pressure distribution one obtains with the
boundary
c9Hdition
P
=
Po
for x
2
= h
'V-t
C =
Po
+ pgh
P
=Po+pg(h-x2)0~x2~h.
This relationship expresses the known hydrostatic law, according to which
the
pressure in a fluid increases in a linear way with the depth below the free
surface.
When one rewrites equation one obtains:
Po
P
- +
gh
= - +
gx2
= const
p p
b
Fig. Position
of
the fluid level at constant acceleration
The
laws
of
hydrostatics are often applicable also
to
fluids in moving
containers when one treats these as
"'accelerated reference systems'''.
The
externally imposed accelerative forces are
then
to
be
introduced as inertia
forces. Figure shows as
an
example, a
"container
lorry" filled with a fluid
which
is
at
rest at the time t <
to
and
which increases its speed linearly at for
all times
t
~
to'
i.e. the fluid experiences a constant acceleration.
At
a state
of
rest
or
in non-accelerating motion, the fluid surface in the
container forms a horizontal level. When the container experiences a constant
acceleration
b,
the fluid surface
will
adopt a new equilibrium position, provided
one disregards the initially occurring
"swashing motions".
When
one now
wants to compute the new position
of
the fluid surface, the introduction
of
a
coordinate system
Xi'
is
recommended which
is
closely connected with
the
container, where the hydrostatic basic equations read as follows:
dP dP dP
-=0;
-=-pb;
-=-pg.
dX}
dX2
dX3
From
this results the general solution:
dP
=0
dX}
P =
!}(x
2
'
x
3
),