
158 
Hydrostatics and Aerostatics 
When 
the 
fluid in 
the 
height h has a free surface 
on 
which 
an 
equally 
large pressure 
Po 
acts 
at 
all points, it represents, because 
of 
the 
relation 
P = 
!(x
2
), 
a plane x
2 
= const, i.e. a horizontal plane. 
For 
the pressure distribution one obtains with the 
boundary 
c9Hdition 
P 
= 
Po 
for x
2 
= h 
'V-t 
C = 
Po 
+ pgh 
P 
=Po+pg(h-x2)0~x2~h. 
This relationship expresses the known hydrostatic law, according to which 
the 
pressure in a fluid increases in a linear way with the depth below the free 
surface. 
When one rewrites equation one obtains: 
Po 
P 
- + 
gh 
= - + 
gx2 
= const 
p  p 
b 
Fig. Position 
of 
the fluid level at constant acceleration 
The 
laws 
of 
hydrostatics are often applicable also 
to 
fluids in moving 
containers when one treats these as 
"'accelerated reference systems'''. 
The 
externally imposed accelerative forces are 
then 
to 
be 
introduced as inertia 
forces. Figure shows as 
an 
example, a 
"container 
lorry" filled with a fluid 
which 
is 
at 
rest at the time t < 
to 
and 
which increases its speed linearly at for 
all times 
t 
~ 
to' 
i.e. the fluid experiences a constant acceleration. 
At 
a state 
of 
rest 
or 
in non-accelerating motion, the fluid surface in the 
container forms a horizontal level. When the container experiences a constant 
acceleration 
b, 
the fluid surface 
will 
adopt a new equilibrium position, provided 
one disregards the initially occurring 
"swashing motions". 
When 
one now 
wants to compute the new position 
of 
the fluid surface, the introduction 
of 
a 
coordinate system 
Xi' 
is 
recommended which 
is 
closely connected with 
the 
container, where the hydrostatic basic equations read as follows: 
dP  dP  dP 
-=0; 
-=-pb; 
-=-pg. 
dX} 
dX2 
dX3 
From 
this results the general solution: 
dP 
=0 
dX} 
P = 
!}(x
2
' 
x
3
),