上浒充通大￥ 4.1 Indroduction to Hydrostatics Shanghai Jiao Tong University Hydrostatics is the study of pressures throughout a fluid at rest and the pressure forces on finite surfaces. As the fluid is at rest,there are no shear stresses in it.Hence the pressure at a point on a plane surface always acts normal to the surface,and all forces are independent of viscosity. The pressure variation is due only to the weight of the fluid. (a) (b) (c)Shanghai Jiao Tong University 4.1 Indroduction to Hydrostatics Hydrostatics is the study of pressures throughout a fluid at rest and the pressure forces on finite surfaces. As the fluid is at rest, there are no shear stresses in it. Hence the pressure at a point on a plane surface always acts normal to the surface, and all forces are independent of viscosity. The pressure variation is due only to the weight of the fluid