Structural Engineering & Statics
where the load goes
Concept

Hydrostatic pressure — where it appears

Pressure that grows in exact proportion to depth, acts perpendicular to any surface, and has no shear anywhere in it.

Named by 2 essays across one field — each of them below, with the objects they name alongside it.

water table39.2 kN/m² upward, everywhereweight 18.7 MN6 muplift 23.54 MN · weight 18.72 MNfactor against flotation 0.80no strength appears anywhere in that ratio

A basement is a boat

Every load in this collection presses down and is resisted by strength. Hydrostatic uplift presses up, is resisted by weight, and does not care what is built on it — so the check contains no material property at all. It is a ratio of two weights, and one of them is water.

equilibrium · uplift 050100150200250051015202530pressure (kN/m²)height above the outlet (m)verticalhorizontala liquidγR ÷ μKz₀ = 9.9 mthe wall carries 69% of 13572 kN, at 371 kN per metre

The pressure that stops growing

A tank of liquid presses harder the deeper it gets, without limit. A silo of grain does not. Wall friction carries part of the weight, the pressure that generates the friction is proportional to the pressure being carried, and the equation that follows is the one that describes a rope round a bollard.

equilibrium · silo pressure

Named alongside it

The objects these essays reach for when they reach for this one.

Free bodyBallastBuoyancyCapstanCharacteristic depthControl perimeterDischargeDrainageEffective depthEquilibriumFactor of safetyFlotation

All concepts