PRESSURE MEASUREMENT

FLUID MECHANICS
MAINTENANCE OF HEAVY MACHINERY
TEACHER CARLOS ALONSO CHAMA CÁRDENAS
El valor de la honestidad

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Capacity
• Identify and describe
the behavior of fluids
at rest and movement. Contents
• Types of pressure.
• Relationship between
pressure and depth.
• Pressure gauges.
• Barometers.
• Law of Pascal.
Achievement of the sesión
• The student will learn how
the pressure in a fluid can
vary when the depth varies.
 Pressure

• The actual pressure that is in a given position is called

absolute pressure, and is measured in relation to the
absolute vacuum. Most instruments for measuring
pressure indicate gauge pressure. The difference
between the absolute pressure and the gauge
pressure is the atmospheric pressure.
𝑃𝑎𝑡𝑚 = 𝑃𝑎𝑏𝑠 − 𝑃𝑔
𝑝𝑎𝑏𝑠 = 𝑝𝑔 + 𝑝𝑎𝑡𝑚

𝑝𝑔 = 𝑝𝑎𝑏𝑠 − 𝑝𝑎𝑡𝑚

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 Pressure

• Under-atmospheric pressures are known as vacuum

pressures and are measured with vacuum instruments
that indicate the difference between atmospheric and
absolute pressure.

𝑝𝑣𝑎𝑐 = 𝑝𝑎𝑡𝑚 − 𝑝𝑎𝑏𝑠

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Pressure
𝑝𝑎𝑏𝑠 = 𝑝𝑔 + 𝑝𝑎𝑡𝑚
𝑝𝑔 = 𝑝𝑎𝑏𝑠 − 𝑝𝑎𝑡𝑚

𝑝𝑣𝑎𝑐 = 𝑝𝑎𝑡𝑚 − 𝑝𝑎𝑏𝑠

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Atmospheric Pressure Values

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Pressure - Conversion factors

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 Relationship between pressure
and elevation

As a person submerges in a fluid, in a pool or in the sea

for example, the pressure increases.

In fluid mechanics it is
important to know how
the pressure varies with
a change of depth or
elevation

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 Relationship between pressure
and elevation

• The pressure in a fluid at rest

does not change in the horizontal
direction, however, if it does in
the vertical direction.
• The pressure in a fluid increases
with depth because more fluid
rests on the deeper layers, and
the effect of this "extra weight"
on a deeper layer is balanced by
an increase in pressure.

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 Relationship between pressure
and elevation

• The pressure on the free surface of a

liquid open to the atmosphere is
atmospheric pressure.
• The absolute pressure at a depth h from
the free surface is calculated as follows:

𝑃 = 𝑃𝑎𝑡𝑚 + 𝜌𝑔ℎ
𝜌 = 𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦
𝑔 = 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦
ℎ = ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡
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Relationship between pressure
and elevation

The pressure is the same at all points of a horizontal plane in a

given fluid (A, B, C, D, E, F and G). However, the pressures at
points H and I are not the same, because these two points are
not interconnected by the same fluid.
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Relationship between pressure
and elevation

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Manometer

As the pressure varies with the height,

then a fluid column can be used to
measure differences in pressure. An
instrument that works according to this
principle is called a manometer. It is
commonly used to measure differences
in pressure, small and moderate. A
pressure gauge consists mainly of a
glass or plastic U-tube that contains one
or more fluids such as mercury, water,
alcohol or oil.

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Manometer

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Manometer

A pressure gauge is used to

measure the pressure in a tank.
The fluid used has a specific
gravity of 0.85 and the
elevation of the column in the
manometer is 55 cm, as shown
in the figure. If the local
atmospheric pressure is 96 kPa,
determine the absolute
pressure inside the tank.

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 Manometer

The water in a tank is pressurized

with air and the pressure is
measured with a multiple fluid
manometer, as shown in the
figure. The tank is on a mountain
at an altitude of 1 400 m, where
the atmospheric pressure is 85.6
kPa. Determine the air pressure in
the tank if h1 = 0.1 m, h2 = 0.2 m,
and h3 = 0.35 m. Take the
densities of water, oil and
mercury as 1 000 kg / m3, 850 kg
/ m3, and 13 600 kg / m3,
respectively.

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