Buoyancy and
Flotation
CE 18- Hydraulics Engineering
Buoyancy and its history
The basic principle of buoyancy and flotation was discovered
2200 years ago and stated by Archimedes as follows
“A body floating or submerged in a fluid is buoyed
(lifted) upward by a force equal to the weight of the fluid that
would be in the volume of the displaced fluids.”
The principle is also known as the law of hydrostatics, which
applies to both submerged and floating bodies, and to all
fluids.
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Buoyant Force
When a body is immersed in fluid, an upward force is
exerted by the fluid on the body.
This upward force is equal to the weight of the fluid
displaced by the body and is called the force of buoyancy.
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Buoyant Force
It is the force on an object exerted by the
surrounding fluid.
When an object pushes the fluid, the fluid pushes back
with as much force as it can.
If the fluid can push back as hard, the object floats; if
not, it sinks.
It is caused by the difference in pressure between the
top of the object and at the bottom of the object.
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Buoyant Force
To make it simple, buoyancy is the floating force.
When the water is heavier than the object, then the
object floats.
Thus, to compute for buoyancy,
BF = weight of displaced fluids or
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For analogy
Why does a ship made of iron and steel floats while
an iron nail sinks?
In the case of the ship, which is hollow from within,
the weight of water displaced by the ship is more
than the weight of the ship, thus it floats.
In case of the iron nail which is compact with no
hollow inside, the weight of water displaced by it is
much less than its own weight, thus it sinks.
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Float or not to float?
Things float if they are less dense than the fluid they are in
Things float if they weigh less than the buoyant force
pushing up on them
Things float when they are shaped so their weight is spread
out
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Computation of Buoyancy
Where, γ is the unit weight of the fluid where the object is
submerged
is the volume displaced by the fluids or volume
submerged of the object
Note: That when the object is floating, the BF is equal to
the weight of the object, if it sinks, the BF is taken out from
the weight of the object making it lighter.
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Equations useful for simplified solutions.
For homogeneous solid body with volume V
“floating” in an homogeneous fluid at rest:
If the body of height H has a constant horizontal
cross-sectional area such as vertical cylinders,
blocks, etc
If the body is of uniform vertical cross-sectional
area A, the area submerged
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Examples
1. A stone weighs 90N in air, and when immersed in water, it
weighed 50N. Compute the volume and its specific gravity.
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Examples
2. A hallow cylinder 1m in diameter and 2m high weighs
3825N. (a) How many kN of lead weighing 110kN/ must
be fastened to the outside bottom of cylinder to make it
float with 1.5m submerged in water?
(b) How many kN of lead if it is placed inside the cylinder?
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Examples
3. A wooden buoy (sg = 0.62) is 50mm by 50mm by 3m long is
made to float in sea water (sg = 1.025). How many N of steel
(sg = 7.85) should be attached to the bottom to make the buoy
float with exactly 450mm exposed above the water surface?
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Statical Stability of Floating Bodies
A floating body is acted upon by two equal opposing
forces, the body’s weight W (acting on the center of
gravity) and its buoyant force BF (acting at the center of
buoyancy, Bo, that is located at the center of gravity of
the displaced liquid).
When these two forces are collinear, it will float in upright
position, but when the body tilts due to wind or wave
action, the center of buoyancy shift to a new location
making the two forces non-collinear, producing a couple.
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Metacenter
It is defined as the point about which a body starts
oscillating when the body is tilted by a small angle.
It is the point at which the line of action of the force of
buoyancy will meet he normal axis of the body when
the body is given a small angular displacement.
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Metacentric height
It is the distance between the metacenter of floating body and
the center of gravity of the body.
It is taken by the use of the formula
Note: Use + if G is above Bo and – if G is below Bo.
Always remember that the metacenter is always above the
center of buoyant force Bo.
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Stability of the floating body
a) Stable equilibrium – if the metacenter, M is above the center
of gravity, G.
b) Unstable equilibrium- if the point M is below point G.
c) Neutral equilibrium- if point M is at G.
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Value of MBo
The stability of the body depends on the amount of
righting moment which in turn is dependent on the
metacentric height, MG. When the body tilts, the
center of buoyancy shifts to a new position Bo’. This
shifting causes the wedge to shift to a new position v.
The moment due to shifting of the buoyant force
BF(z) must equal to the moment due to the wedge
shift F(s).
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Value of MBo
For small values of θ or when θ=0,
When θ >0, for rectangular section,
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Moment
The righting or overturning moment on a floating body is:
RM or OM = Wx = W(MG sinθ)
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Examples:
1. A barge with a flat bottom
and square ends as shown has
a draft of 6ft. When fully loaded
and floating in an upright
position. Is the barge stable? If
the barge is stable, what is the
righting moment in water when
the angle of heel is
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Example:
2. Would the solid wood cylinder be stable if placed vertically
in oil as shown? The specific gravity of wood is 0.61.
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