Hydraulic Pressure Calculator

With this hydraulic pressure calculator, you can study the force and area on both pistons of a hydraulic press.

Did you know that a hydraulic system powers the elevators of the Eiffel Tower? Or that hydraulic systems are also used in car and aircraft brakes or even for some doors' hinges? The fact is that this type of technology surrounds us. Pascal's law, or Pascal's principle, is the foundation of this technology. Keep reading to learn:

• What Pascal's principle is about;
• The hydraulic pressure formula or Pascal's law formula;
• How to calculate the hydraulic pressure in a basic hydraulic system.

Hydraulic systems use an incompressible fluid to transmit forces from one point to another within the fluid — usually petroleum-based or water-based fluids. The main advantage of this technology is that it allows the amplification of a small force into a larger one, i.e., consider a hydraulic vehicle lift, the kind that is used at car service centers. With this machine is possible to elevate a heavy car by employing a relatively small force.

We can also encounter this technology in a variety of applications, including automotive brakes, construction equipment, hydraulic jacks, robotics, aircraft landing gear, hydraulic presses, and more.

All of this is based on Pascals's principle or Pascal's law, which states that:

When there is an increase in pressure at any point in a confined fluid, this pressure is transmitted equally and undiminished to all points in the fluid, resulting in an equal increase at every other point in the container.

We can mathematically represent this as:

where:

• $\Delta p$ – Hydrostatic pressure difference between two points in a column of liquid;
• $\rho$ – Density of the fluid;
• $g$ – Gravitational acceleration; and
• $\Delta h$ – Difference in height between two points in a column of liquid.

From the previous, we can see that if we were to pick any two points in a particular hydraulic system, the pressure would be the same at both points. We can express this as:

If we recall from the pressure definition (check the pressure calculator for more), we know that this one is equal to the ratio between the exerted force and the area at which it is applied, then:

This is known as the hydraulic pressure formula or Pascal's law formula.

where:

• $F_1$ – Force applied to the first piston;
• $F_2$ – Force applied to the second piston;
• $A_1$ – Area of the first piston; and
• $A_2$ – Area of the second piston.

Then, if we'd like to determine the required force $F_1$ that we'd need to apply in order to raise an object on known weight $F_2$ placed over the area two $A_2$, we simply rearrange the last expression into:

You can calculate the area and force for both pistons in a hydraulic press with this hydraulic pressure calculator. Let's see how to use this tool:

1. In the First piston section, enter the Area and Force applied.
2. In the case that you know the dimensions of the other piston, enter the Area of the Second piston.
3. The calculator will show you the required Force to equate the force applied on the first piston.
4. On the Advanced mode of this calculator, you can also determine the traveled distance of the pistons Lifting distance and the Work done.