Using a spreadsheet to Calculate the Buoyancy of PVC Pipe http://create-and-make.

com/post-54a-buoyancy-of-pvc-pipe-revisited/

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Post 54A – Buoyancy of PVC pipe –

Revisited.
Sometimes I get so intent on figuring out a problem, I do a lot more
than is necessary. In Post 53A, I showed a graphical method of
calculating the buoyancy of PVC pipe and tried with a 3″ pipe. I
found it would not get the job done. This time around I wanted to
do the same problem with a spreadsheet so other sizes of pipe
could quickly be calculated. After going through all of that, I
realised that all I really needed to do was calculate with the pipe
1/2 immersed and fully immersed to get an idea of the amount of lift
the pipe can provide. Those calculations are easy to do – the area
of a circle, and 1/2 that amount.

The
summary of
those
calculations
Pipe less than 1/2 immersed
are shown
here.
Currently, I would figure on 6″ PVC with two on either side of the
Hammock Stand as shown in the picture for Episode 53.

However, since I have already done the work this post is a good
opportunity to show how to use a spreadsheet for design
calculations.

Refer to the first picture. The way we will calculate the lift provided
by the pipe when it is immersed less than one-half way is to do the
following. Summary of the lift for various sizes of PVC pipe.

Determine the angle A, from the center of the pipe to the immersion level. This is done by taking the arc-cosine of
(radius – depth)/radius)
Determine the area of a the pie slice that is 2 X angle A wide. This is done by multiplying the area of the full circle
X 2 X A / 360.
The immersed area = the pie slice area – the triangle area of the pie slice above the water level. The area of the
triangle is 1/2 the base X height of the triangle. This is radius X sine(A) X (radius – depth).
Once the immersed area is found (the red area on the picture) this is multiplied by 12 to get he cubic inches of
displacement per foot of pipe. This is then multiplied by the density of water per cubic inch (0.0361 lb / cu in), to
determine the gross lift. The weight of the pipe / foot is then subtracted to determine the net lift provided.

If the pipe is immersed over 1/2 the diameter, the calculations are
similar, except the immersed area = full pipe area – pie slice area +
the triangle area.

The spreadsheet used to do all these calculations can be found

here: Displacement spreadsheet in Excel format ,&
Displacement spreadsheet in LibreCalc format.

Gary

Pipe immersed greater than 1/2 way

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June 7th, 2012 | Tags: area, Design, geometry, trignometry, volume | Category: Buoyancy

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Using a spreadsheet to Calculate the Buoyancy of PVC Pipe http://create-and-make.com/post-54a-buoyancy-of-pvc-pipe-revisited/

2 comments to Post 54A – Buoyancy of PVC pipe – Revisited.

kishore
August 6, 2014 at 5:31 am · Reply

Please furnish the detail calculations

Gary
August 10, 2014 at 8:44 pm · Reply
The calculations are described in the text of the blog post and are written in the formulas that are
within the cells of the spreadsheet. WordPress is not really designed to show calculations. I really
have only two other options. One would be to create a video showing how the calulations are stored witin the
spreadsheet and the other would be to hand write out one example, scan it and post it as a download. My
handwriting leave a little bit to be desired but I can do that if necessary.

2 of 2 10/15/2017, 9:18 PM