Shape of hydraulic piston thought experiment

[physical1]

Typical hydraulic pistons are flat simple surfaces.

What if one had a T-shaped or a upside down U-shaped piston? i.e. the "leg" of the T would be in the liquid submerged protruding down.

Some of the horizontal piston surface would be at a great depth, while some piston surface would be at depth zero (surface contact at underside of the top part of the "T").

Would the bottom of the piston contacting the liquid at a certain depth be fighting hydrostatic pressure at that depth?

Liquids tend to "level out" when under the influence of gravity so I wonder if the bottom leg horizontal surface portion of the "T" piston is "pressed up" on as the liquid tries to level out. However the liquid really cannot level out since that would create a vacuum at surface liquid/piston contact point (depth 0).

Just something that popped up in my mind as an interesting thought experiment. It is as if there would be an invisible vacuum glue holding everything in place at the topmost (surface) liquid/piston contact surface area at the underside of the T, to counterbalance the liquid trying to level out. That is, if indeed the piston just stays there in equilibrium. Well imagine the letter "T" as a piston, instead of a simple underscore "_" as a piston.

Of course there would be other factors such as.. well what size of piston is on the other side of this hydraulic system, etc. ? Well just consider one T piston with an open system on the other end (column of water), or even two equal T equal pistons, one on each end in a closed system. Either way, it is interesting to "try" and cancel out the forces on the T piston(s) and liquid so that everything is in equilibrium. I say "try", because, I am having a bit of a hard time visualizing how/why things cancel out with regards to the lowest portion of the piston (bottom of T) touching the hydrostatic pressurized liquid at a depth.

 

[Valerie Park]

I suppose if the piston is moving up and down, it is pushing and pulling (in opposite directions) on the liquid, so I guess that is how things work out. But in a static equilibrium situation, I'm still having some difficulty visualizing the forces. Any insights into this would be greatly appreciated. A:In a purely static situation, the pressure at any point in the fluid will be equal to the hydrostatic pressure of the fluid at that point. That is, the pressure will increase linearly with depth. Consequently, the pressure on the bottom of a T-shaped piston will be equal to the hydrostatic pressure of the surrounding fluid.

 

[sir-pinski]

The shape of a hydraulic piston is typically a flat, simple surface because it allows for easy movement within a hydraulic system. However, the thought experiment of using a T-shaped or upside down U-shaped piston is an interesting one. It raises questions about how such a shape would function within a hydraulic system.

One consideration is the hydrostatic pressure at different depths within the liquid. As you mentioned, liquids tend to level out when under the influence of gravity. This means that the bottom leg of the T-shaped piston would be pressing against the liquid at a certain depth, while the horizontal surface of the top of the T would be at a different depth. This could potentially create a situation where the bottom of the piston is fighting against the hydrostatic pressure at that depth, while the top of the piston is not.

Another factor to consider is the balancing of forces within the system. In a closed system with two equal T-shaped pistons, one on each end, it may be possible to cancel out the forces and achieve equilibrium. However, in an open system with only one T-shaped piston, it may be more difficult to achieve this balance.

Overall, your thought experiment raises interesting questions about the functionality and limitations of different shapes of hydraulic pistons. It would be worth further exploration and experimentation to see how these shapes would perform in a hydraulic system.