HYDROSTATIC PRESSURE EFFECT

ON DAM
CONSTRUCTION
IIK NURUL HIKMAH
EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL SCIENCE
FACULTY OF TARBIYA AND TEACHING SCIENCE
SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY
Jl. Ir. Juanda No 95 Jakarta 15412
Phone. 021-7493315, 7493606 Fax 021-7493315
Email: iiknh0230@gmail.com

Abstract
Dams built transversely on a river or reservoir that serves to
hold and elevate
the water surface so that can be streamed to places that need such
as irrigation. This
paper aims to determine how the dam can withstand a large flow of
water in rivers
or reservoirs. That is by designing and building dams appropriately.
The shape of the
dam which is wider at the bottom can make a sturdy dam due to
the hydrostatic
pressure of water further down the greater. Misconceptions
that are often
experienced by students when studying the hydrostatic pressure of
the material that
is most liquid pressure is on the top surface due to the site have
the maximum
potential energy. But the concept, the biggest pressure liquid
substances that exist in
the deepest part of the liquid, not on the surface of the top or right
in the middle of
the liquid.
Keyword: Dams, pressure, water, river, kg/m3 (density of the fluids
unit), m/s2
(acceleration due to gravity acceleration due to gravitys unit), N/m2
(hydrostatic

pressure of the fluid), m (depth of the fluid).

Introductions
Utilization of nature as a tool in human life has existed since
the first, but
still with the conventional facilities. But now the technology has
progressed. With
the advancement of technology to facilitate the use of nature
to human
survival. The river is often used as a source of drinking water, for
irrigation, and
some are used as power plants. To facilitate the use of a river or
reservoir is then

built a dam to hold back the flow of water and elevate the water flow
in the river or
reservoir so that it can be fully utilized by humans. Dam can hold and
store water
rivers or reservoirs with large discharge. With bigger pressure on
water dam can
still hold it and the dam did not collapse. With increasing pressure on
water down
the greater, but the dam can hold it so that the tremendous pressure
on the bottom
of the river was not able to tear down the dam. In this paper the
author will reveal
why the dam can withstand a large river water flow and
bigger water
pressures . To be able to withstand heavy water flow and discharge
large dams it is
necessary to design tailored to the characteristics of the river basin or
reservoir.
Discussion
Dam

Figure 1: Dam

Dam is a water building built specifically for stem (hold) the

flow of water
which serves to move the flow of water or temporary
accommodate a certain
amount of capacity / volume of water by using a homogeneous
structure of soil

deposits (earthfill dam), a heap of rubble with a waterproof coating

(rockfill Dam),
construction concrete (Concrete Dam) or various other
types of
construction. Dams can be defined as well as the planned building in
a stream or
reservoir to stem, exalt or divert water into an irrigation channel that
can be used
for irrigation, power generation or water. In addition to stem the flow
of a river or
reservoir dam was also built around Mount Merapi lava flow. In the
area around
the river which has a high rainfall required for the solid dam can
withstand so that

water does not overflow and dams are not easily broken. Therefore it
is necessary
in order to design appropriate dam dam to function optimally.1
The concept of hydrostatic pressure
Pressure is defined as the force acting perpendicular to a plane
divided by
the area that field. In the static fluid contained hydrostatic
pressure, which is
defined as the compressive force experienced by the liquid vessel
per unit area. A
fluid can be considered composed of layers and each layer of water to
put pressure
on the layer below. Each piece in the static fluid will get pressure
liquid. Contained
in the fluid pressure whereby if the container surface area is
bigger then the
resulting pressure is getting smaller and vice versa if the surface
area of the
container is smaller then the greater the pressure generated. So a
large surface
area or container affect the resulting pressure. In addition to the
surface area,
height or depth also affects the hydrostatic pressure. The deeper the
surface, the
bigger the hydrostatic pressure.
When the fluid is in a state of calm, the fluid will exert a
force that is
perpendicular to the entire contact surface, such as the walls of the
submerged
vessel or object into the fluid. If the weight of the fluid can be
neglected, the fluid
pressure will be the same in all parts of the volume. When we dive
into the water,
our ears will feel that the pressure rises rapidly with increasing
depth below the
surface (Hugo, 2002).
The magnitude of the hydrostatic pressure does not depend on
the shape of
the vessel and the amount of liquid in the vessel, but depending on
the density of
the liquid, the acceleration of gravity of the earth, and its depth.
The formula is based on the hydrostatic pressure at a point in

a quiescent
fluid depending on the depth of the point, not on the shape of the
container or
basically. Therefore, all points will have the same hydrostatic
pressure.2
A static fluid does not flow, it is everywhere at rest. In the
study of fluid
static (hydrostatics) Also assume that any solid object in contact
with the fluid
Whether a vessel containing the fluid or an object submerged in
the fluid is at
rest. The atoms or molecules in a static fluid Themselves are not
static, they are
Anonymous. development of water resources.
http://kk.mercubuana.ac.id/elearning/files_modul/11035-8.pdf
accessed at Wednesday March, 11 2015 at 16.45
Radjulaini.Perencanaan Irigasi Bendung.http://file.upi.edu/Direktori/FPTK/
JUR._PEND.TEKNIK_SIPIL/194607061980021RADJULAINI/PERENCANAAN_IRIGASI/PEREN
CANAA
N_BENDUNG.pdf accessed at Wednesday, March 11 2015 at 15.09 WIB

continually moving. The motion of people's bounce up and down

bumping into
other call now in a mosh pit Gives you a rough idea of the motion
of the closely
packed atoms or molecules in a liquid, in gases, the atoms or
molecules are much
farther apart than in liquids so they travel greater distances between
collisions.
Fluid pressure is the caused by collisions of the fast-moving
atoms or
molecules of a fluid. When a single molecule hits a container wall and
rebounds, its
momentum changes due to the force exerted on it by the wall. A static
fluid exerts a
force on any surface with the which it comes in contact, the direction
of the force is
prependicular to the surface. A static fluid can not exert a force
parallel to the
surface. If it did, the surface would exert a force on the fluid parallel
to the surface,
by the Newton's third law. This would force the make the fluid flow
along the
surface, contradicting the premise that the fluis is static. Pressure
is a scalar
quantity, it does not have a directon. The force acting on an object
submerged in a
fluid or on some portion of the fluid itself is a vector quantity, its
direction is
prependicular to the contact surface. Pressure is defined as a scalar.
Because at a
given location in the fluid, the magnitude of the force per unit area is
the same for
any orientation of the surface.The molecules in a static fluid are
moving in random
directions, and there can be no preferred direction since that would
constitute
fluid flow. There is no reason that a surface would have a greater
number of
collisions, or collisions with more energetic molecules, for one
particular surface
orientation Compared with any other orientation (Alan, 2004).
Quantitative calculation of how pressure liquid with
homogeneous density

changes with pressure. Take a point that is in depth h below the

surface of the
liquid. Pressure caused by the liquid at a depth h are by weight
of the liquid
column above it. Thus the force acting on the region is F = mg =
.A.h.g where A.h is
the volume of the column, is the density of the liquid and g is the
acceleration due
to gravity.
P=

With = density of the fluid (kg / m 3)

g = acceleration due to gravity (m / s

2)

h = depth of the fluid (m)

P = hydrostatic pressure of the fluid (N / m2)

That equality shows that hydrostatic directly proportional with it

depth. For
the same depth, the pressure is same in all directions. Increasingly in
the position
of an object, the greater the hydrostatic pressure they experienced
(Efrizon, 2010).
Large pressure generated by the fluid height h, measured from
the surface
known as hydrostatic pressure. Equation P = .gh very useful for its
density fluid
constant and does not change with depth that is if the fluid can not
be suppressed.
Outside air pressure must be added when will calculate the pressure
at a certain
depth from the surface of the fluid. Thus the pressure in the fluid at
a depth h as
measured from the surface everywhere together (Sutrisno, 2007).
At the dam engineering world, the architects create a dam
to take into
account the hydrostatic pressure. This is evidenced by the more
thickened wall of
the dam in the direction of the base surface of the water. 3

Figure 2: Dam construction

Construction of dams built in the shape widening downward
aims to
withstand the pressure of the water is getting into the greater
pressure. Therefore,
the dam can withstand the large hydrostatic pressure at the bottom
of a river or
reservoir so as to avoid the breakdown of the dam when water flow is
great. If the
dam is built with the same form width it is possible to collapse the

bottom because
the bottom of the dam could not withstand the pressure at the
bottom of the
riverbed pressure or greater. Therefore to consider the depth of
the river and
adjusted with thick dam. So that the dam can withstand the
maximum hydrostatic
pressure.

Anonim.Daerah Aliran Sungai.http://eprints.undip.ac.id/34224/5/1762_chapter_II.pdf

accessed at Tuesday,
March 10 2015 at 17.18 WIB

Misconceptions that are often experienced by students when

studying the
hydrostatic pressure of the material that is most liquid pressure is
on the top
surface due to the site have the maximum potential energy and
the maximum
hydrostatic pressure on the liquid right in the middle because the
total pressure
that occurs from above, below , and side. But the concept, the
biggest pressure
liquid substances that exist in the deepest part of the liquid, not on
the surface of
the top or right in the middle of the liquid. This can be explained by
the formula
where the hydrostatic pressure hydrostatic pressure is directly
proportional to its
depth. Then the liquid is experiencing the deepest most large
hydrostatic pressure.
In addition, the pressure on the liquid caused by the weight of the
liquid itself.
According to the law of hydrostatic pressure, "hydrostatic
pressure which is
located at all points that lie on a flat plane in the same type of liquid
equal". So that
affect the magnitude of the hydrostatic pressure is the depth of the
liquid. To avoid
misconceptions that occur in students, students should look for more
references to
strengthen understanding of the concept of hydrostatic pressure.
In addition,
students also should be more discussion with friends or teachers to
get a better
share knowledge about hidrostatic pressure.
Conclusion
In the static fluid contained hydrostatic pressure, which is
defined as the
compressive force experienced by the liquid vessel per unit area. A
fluid can be
considered composed of layers and each layer of water to put pressure
on the layer
below. Each piece in the static fluid will get pressure liquid. Dam
is a water

building built specifically for stem (hold) the flow of water which
serves to move
the flow of water or temporary accommodate a certain amount of
capacity /
volume of water by using a homogeneous structure of soil deposits
(earthfill dam),
a heap of rubble with a waterproof coating (rockfill Dam),
construction concrete
(Concrete Dam) or various other types of construction. Construction
of dams built
in the shape widening downward aims to withstand the pressure of
the water is
getting into the greater pressure. Therefore, the dam can
withstand the large
hydrostatic pressure at the bottom of a river or reservoir so as to
avoid the
breakdown of the dam when water flow is great. Misconceptions
that are often
experienced by students when studying the hydrostatic pressure of
the material
that is most liquid pressure is on the top surface due to the site have
the maximum
potential energy. But the concept, the biggest pressure liquid
substances that exist
in the deepest part of the liquid, not on the surface of the top or right
in the middle
of the liquid.
6

References
Alan giambattista dkk.2004.1st editioncollege physics. newyork.
Hugo d, young, roger a.freedman.alih bahasa Juliastuti
endang.2002.Fisika
Universitas.Jakarta: Erlangga.
Sutrisno dan Siti Ahmiarti.2007. Fisika Dasar I. Jakarta: Lembaga
Penelitian UIN
Jakarta dengan UIN Press
Umar,Efrizon.2010.Physics for senior high school.Bekasi: Ganeca Exact.
Anonim.Daerah Aliran
Sungai.http://eprints.undip.ac.id/34224/5/1762_chapter_II.pdf

accessed at Tuesday, March 10 2015 at 17.18 WIB

Anonymous. development of water resources.
http://kk.mercubuana.ac.id/
elearning/files_modul/11035-8-428992907523.pdf accessed at
Wednesday, March 11 2015 at 16.10 WIB
Radjulaini.Perencanaan Irigasi
Bendung.http://file.upi.edu/Direktori/FPTK/
JUR._PEND.TEKNIK_SIPIL/194607061980021RADJULAINI/PERENCA
NAAN
_IRIGASI/PERENCANAAN_BENDUNG.pdf accessed at Wednesday,
March 11
2015 at 15.09 WIB