WOLFRAM|DEMONSTRATIONS PROJECT

Equivalent Forces Due to Hydrostatic Pressure on a Dam

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left height
right height
right base width
A dam is filled with water at height
h
1
on the left and
h
2
on the right; arrows represent the hydrostatic pressure on the walls. The graphic shows a cross section of the dam; assume the dam has unit horizontal length (perpendicular to the cross section). Hydrostatic pressure increases linearly with depth. On the right, the pressure is perpendicular to the surface, with an angle of inclination
θ
. The pressure distributions can be represented as triangles, with the effective forces (shown in red and green) acting through their centroids. Atmospheric pressure can be neglected, since it balances out on the opposite sides of the dam.