Hydraulics (Hydrostatic Forces)

Course Description

ETM 3316 Hydraulics is an upper-division engineering technology course in the behaviour of water at rest and in motion, aimed at the problems civil and mechanical technologists meet: forces on structures under water, pipe systems, and flow in channels. FAMU's description: "Hydrostatic forces. Stability of floating bodies and center of pressure on submerged areas. Bernoulli's theorem and its applications, fluid flow in pipes and channels." The statewide description adds "distribution of flow in pipe networks" and "special problems."

⚠ One institution in Florida teaches it: Florida A&M University.

⚠⚠ Read the title carefully: this is not fluid power

The state's title for this number is Hydrostatic Forces; FAMU titles it Hydraulics. In a manufacturing programme, "hydraulics" usually means fluid power: pumps, valves and cylinders driving machines (ETM 2315/2315C). This course is the other meaning, the civil-engineering one: water pressure on gates and walls, floating bodies, pipe networks and open channels. If you want to work on hydraulic machinery, the fluid power courses are the ones you need.

⚠ Credits and the zero-credit lab

• The state course file records ETM 3316 at 4 credits, with a companion ETM 3316L Hydraulics Lab at 0 credits. ⚠ An older FAMU catalog lists the course at 3 credits. Check the current FAMU catalog.
• ⚠⚠ A zero-credit lab is real work with no credit attached. The hours are real and it may be graded, but it does not count toward full-time enrolment, which matters for financial aid, athletic eligibility and student visas. If you ever transfer, there is no lab credit to carry with you. Plan your schedule and your enrolment status with the lab hours included.

Learning Outcomes

Required Outcomes

• Calculate hydrostatic forces on plane and curved submerged surfaces, and locate the centre of pressure.
• Analyse the stability of floating bodies (metacentric height).
• Apply Bernoulli's theorem and the energy equation, with losses, to real systems.
• Calculate flow in pipes, including friction losses, and size pipes for a required flow.
• Analyse the distribution of flow in pipe networks (for example by the Hardy Cross method).
• Calculate flow in open channels using Manning's equation.
• Solve applied special problems combining these methods.

Optional Outcomes

• Size culverts and stormwater conveyance.
• Select pumps for a pipe system using system and pump curves.
• Verify hydrostatic and flow results experimentally (the lab).

Major Topics

Required Topics

• Hydrostatic pressure and forces on submerged surfaces
• Centre of pressure
• Buoyancy and stability of floating bodies
• Bernoulli's theorem and the energy equation
• Pipe flow and friction losses
• Pipe networks
• Open-channel flow
• Applied problems

Optional Topics

• Pumps in pipe systems
• Stormwater and culvert hydraulics

Resources & Tools

• Mott and Untener, Applied Fluid Mechanics, or a hydraulics text such as Houghtalen, Akan and Hwang, Fundamentals of Hydraulic Engineering Systems.
• A hydraulics laboratory: hydrostatic bench, flow channel, pipe-friction apparatus.
• Spreadsheet software for pipe-network iteration; EPANET (free, US EPA) for water-distribution modelling.

Career Pathways

• Civil engineering technologists and technicians (SOC 17-3022), in water distribution, stormwater, drainage and site development. See this site's Civil Engineering Technician path.
• Water and wastewater utility engineering and operations roles. In Florida, flat terrain, heavy rain and hurricane flooding make drainage and stormwater design constant work for counties, water management districts and consulting firms.
• A foundation for the FE exam's fluids and hydraulics content, for technologists pursuing licensure.

Special Information

Offering Notes

The only carrier is FAMU. The guide records 4 credits and 60 contact hours, the Florida convention for a four-credit course; the zero-credit lab adds its own hours.

Prerequisites and position

FAMU requires ETG 2502 Statics (the state record says "Statics"). It follows ETM 2310C Fluid Mechanics I, which has its own guide on this site. ⚠ Engineering programmes teach this material in calculus-based courses (CWR 3201 Hydraulics at several universities), and the two do not substitute for each other in transfer.