FLUID MECHANICS

BUOYANCY & FLOATATION

Unit - IIB

Dr. P. Jagadeesh

Fig. Buoyant force on a body floating at

the free surface of the liquid

BUOYANCY, BUOYANT FORCE AND CENTRE OF BUOYANCY

When a body is immersed in a fluid either wholly or partially it is subjected to an
Upward force which tends to lift it up. This tendency for an immersed body to be
lifted up in the fluid, due to an upward force opposite to the action of gravity is
know any BUOYANCY.
The force trending to lift up the body under such conditions is known as
BUOYANT FORCE.
The point of application of the force of buoyancy on the body is known as
CENTRE OF BUOYANCY.

Fig. Metacentre for a floating body

METACENTRE AND METACENTRIC HEIGHT

Consider a body floating in a liquid. It is statically in equilibrium, it is acted
upon by two forces viz., the weight of the body W acting at the centre of
gravity G of the body and the buoyant force FB acting at the centre of
Buoyance B. The forces FB and W are equal and opposite as shown in
Figure.
Metacentre may be defied as the point of interaction between the axis of the
floating body passing through the points B and G and a vertical line passing
through the new centre of Buoyancy B1. For small values of the angle of
heel , the position of the metacentre M is practically constant. Further the
distance between the centre of gravity G and the metacentre M of a floating
body (ie. GM) as
0, is known as Metacentric height.

Fig. Stability of a wholly submerged body

Fig. Floating body in unstable equilibrium

STABILITY OF SUBMERGED AND FLOATING BODIES

When a submerged or floating body is given a slight angular displacement, it
may have either of the following three conditions of equilibrium developed viz.,
Stable equilibrium
Unstable equilibrium
Neutral equilibrium
Stable Equilibrium: A body is said to be in a state of stable equilibrium if a
small angular displacement of the body sets up a couple that tends to oppose
the angular displacement of the body, thereby tending to bring the body back to
its original position.

BM BG
Unstable Equilibrium: A body is said to be in a state of unstable equilibrium if
a small angular displacement of the body sets up a couple that tends to further
increase in the angular displacement of the body, thereby not allowing the body
to restore its original position.

BM BG

Neutral Equilibrium: A body is said to be in a state of neutral equilibrium if a

small angular displacement of the body does not set up couple of any kind,
and therefore the body adopts the new position given to it by the angular
displacement, without either returning to its original position, or increasing the
angular displacement.

BM BG