GERTC – November 2019 Review HYDRAULICS – Buoyancy & Stability on Floating Bodies

BUOYANCY
Buoyancy (also known as the buoyant force) is the force exerted on an
object that is wholly or partly immersed in a fluid.
- The symbol for the magnitude of buoyancy is BF or FB
- As a vector it must be stated with both magnitude and direction.
• Buoyancy acts upward for the kind of situations encountered
in everyday experience.
- As with other forces, the SI unit of buoyancy is the newton [N].

Archimedes' Principle
The magnitude of the buoyant force on an object is equal to the weight Figure 3: Unstable Position
of the fluid it displaces.
Righting Moment and Overturning Moment
BF =  liqVdisplaced RM = W ( x )
OM = W ( x )
The factors that affect buoyancy are:
a. the density of the fluid,
b. the volume of the fluid displaced, and Metacentric Height
c. the local acceleration due to gravity. MG = MBo  GBo
The buoyant force is not affected by:
a. the mass of the immersed object or Use (-) if G is above Bo
b. the density of the immersed object. Use (+) if G is below Bo

Buoyancy vs. Density Value of MBo

B2  tan2  
Densities BF > Wobject BF = Wobject BF < Wobject MBo = 1 + 
object rises float on surface
12D  2 
ρobject < ρfluid (wholly (partly
immersed) immersed)
neutral
Sample Problems:
buoyancy
ρobject = ρfluid (wholly
1. An iceberg having specific gravity of 0.92 is floating on salt water of
sp. gr. 1.03. If the volume of ice above the water surface is 1000m3,
immersed)
what is the total volume of the ice?
ρobject > ρfluid object sinks
2. A block of wood 0.60m by 0.60m by h meters in dimension was
Stability of floating bodies thrown into the water and floats with 0.18m projecting above the
water surface. The same block was thrown into a container of a liquid
having a specific gravity of 0.90 and it floats with 0.14m projecting
above the surface. Determine the following:
a. the value of h
b. the specific gravity of the block
c. the weight of the block

3. A piece of irregularly shaped metal weighs 300.0 N in air. When the

metal is completely submerged in water, it weighs 232.5 N. Find the
volume of the metal.
Figure 1: Upright position
4. Determine the magnitude and direction of the force necessary to hold
Initial value of MBo a concrete cube, 0.300 m on each side, in equilibrium and completely
I submerged (a) in mercury (Hg) and (b) in water. Use s.g. = 2.40.
MBo =
Vdisplaced 5. Determine the submerged depth of a cube of steel 0.30 m on each side
floating in mercury. The specific gravities of steel and mercury are 7.8
and 13.6, respectively.

6. A hollow cube 1.0 m on each side weighs 2.4 kN. The cube is tied to a
solid concrete block weighing 10.0 kN. Will these two objects tied
together float or sink in water? The specific gravity of the concrete is
2.40.

7. A concrete cube 0.5 m on each side is to be held in equilibrium under

water by attaching a light foam buoy to it. What minimum volume of
foam is required? The specific weights of concrete and foam are 23.58
kN/m^3 and 0.79 kN/m^3, respectively.

Figure 2: Stable Position 8. What fraction of the volume of a solid piece of metal of s.g. 7.25 floats
above the surface of a container of mercury?

9. A hydrometer weighs of 0.17 N and has a stem diameter of 11 mm.

What is the distance between scale markings for s.g. = 1.0 and s.g. =
1.1? Between 1.1 and 1.2?

10. A square pole (s.g. = 0.68), 80 mm by 80 mm by 6 m long, is suspended

by a wire so that 4 m is submerged in water and 2 m is above the
surface. What is the tension in the wire?

1|Engr. C.G. D ua so, CE, RMP

GERTC – November 2019 Review HYDRAULICS – Buoyancy & Stability on Floating Bodies

11. A right circular cone is 50 mm in radius and 170 mm high and weighs
1.5 N in air. How much force is required to push this cone vertex-
downward into ethanol so that its base is exactly at the surface? How
much additional force will push the base 6.5 mm below the surface?

12. The block shown in the figure weighs 21,000 kN. Find the value of h.

13. A cube 0.7m on an edge has its lower half of s.g. = 1.6 and upper half
of s.g. = 0.7. It rests in a two – layer fluid, with lower s.g. = 1.4 and
upper s.g. = 0.8. Determine the h of the top of the cube above the
interface.

Situation 1 – A ship having a displacement of 23,416 metric tons and a

draft of 10.552 m in ocean (sp. gr. = 1.025) enters a harbor of fresh
water (sp. gr. = 1). The horizontal section of the ship at the waterline
is 2,750 m2.
14. What is the displacement (in m3) of the ship in salt water?
A. 22845 B. 23918 C. 23657 D. 24500
15. What depth of fresh water is required to float the ship?
A. 11.7m B. 10.8m C. 10.7m D. 11.5m

16. A rectangular scow 9m wide, 15m long, and 3.6m high has a draft in
sea water 2.4m. Its center of gravity is 2.7m above the bottom of the
scow.
a. Determine the initial metacentric height.
b. Determine the righting or overturning moment when the scow
tilts until one side is just at the point of submergence.

17. A barge floating in fresh water has the form of a parallelepiped having
dimensions 10m by 30m by 3m. It weighs 4,500 kN when loaded with
center of gravity along its vertical axis 4m from the bottom.
a. Find the metacentric height about its longest centerline (Rolling
action).
b. Find the metacentric height about its shortest centerline
(Pitching action).

2|Engr. C.G. D ua so, CE, RMP

GERTC – November 2019 Review HYDRAULICS – Buoyancy & Stability on Floating Bodies

3|Engr. C.G. D ua so, CE, RMP