Hydrostatic pressure is an example of a distributed load.

The pressure ${?}^{*}$ in a fluid increases with depth $z.$

$p=gz$

The density $=1000k\frac{g}{m^3}$ for fresh water.

If the dam has a width $b,$ then the net force acting on a horizontal

strip of width $dz$ is:

$dF=$pdA$=pbdz=gbzdz=w(z)dz$

where $w(z)$ is the linear weighting function.

If the dam is $8$ m wide, determine the resultant hydrostatic force acting on the dam, and the depth

of the resultant below the water surface.

Technically this is the pressure above atmospheric pressure $($the gauge pressure$)$ but since the

dam is open to the air on its other side, the effect of the atmosphere cancels out.

answer: $,1\mathrm{.}41MN,4m$