On the other hand if you know where the centroid of the surface area and what the area is than you can simplify the above equation to the following.

The above equation is a general equation on how to find the resultant force acting the side wall of a container. Once those are determined you will use the following equations to determine the resultant force. You will also need to know if the surface you are analyzing is a vertical surface or if it is set at an angle. Since the pressure will be distributed over an area you will need to determine what area is as well as the geometry. The first step that will need to be taken is to determine what the resultant force. Do to this fact a process will need to be followed to determine what the resultant force is and where it is located on the sides of the container. On the other hand the pressure on the sides of the container is not uniformly distributed. As a result the resultant force will pass through the centroid of the area.

For the image above the pressure is uniformly distributed over the bottom of the container. Next a resultant force and where that resultant force is located will need to be determined to show how the pressure field will effect the surface of the container. If the outside of the container is surrounded by atmospheric pressure then the pressure fields inside the container can be calculated using the following equation. Due this fact the resulting pressure fields will result on the walls of a container. In addition we know that the pressure caused by the fluid will change linearly in relation to the depth of the fluid. As a result the forces caused by the pressure will perpendicular to the surface. When a fluid is at rest there will be no shearing stresses present within the fluid. It is also useful to determine the force required to open a gate that is controlling the water level of a reservoir. Well the reason why is to prevent objects like dams, storage tanks, and ships from failing. Now why are we interested in hydrostatic force on a plane. For this article will be looking at hydrostatic force on a plane. This is due to the pressure that is exerted on the object. If you were to submerge an on object into a fluid forces will develop onto the surface of the object.

Hydrostatic force in a water tank