Ship Stability – Understanding

Intact Stability of Ships

The understanding of a surface ship’s stability can be divided into two parts. First,
Intact Stability. This field of study deals with the stability of a surface ship when
the intactness of its hull is maintained, and no compartment or watertight tank is
damaged or freely flooded by seawater.

Secondly, Damaged Stability. The study of damaged stability of a surface ship

includes the identification of compartments or tanks that are subjected to damage
and flooded by seawater, followed by a prediction of resulting trim and draft
conditions.

Damaged stability, however, cannot be understood without a clear understanding of intact

stability, and the interesting scenarios related to it. Hence, we will first focus on intact
stability from this article onward, leading to a discussion of cases where the application of
concepts of intact stability come of use and then move on to damaged stability.

Intact Stability of Surface Ships:

The fundamental concept behind the understanding of intact stability of a floating

body is that of Equilibrium. There are three types of equilibrium conditions that can
occur, for a floating ship, depending on the relation between the positions of centre
of gravity and centre of buoyancy.

1. Stable Equilibrium:
Study the figure below. A stable equilibrium is achieved when the vertical position of
G is lower than the position of transverse metacenter (M). So, when the ship heels to
an angle (say theta- Ɵ), the center of buoyancy (B) now shifts to B1. The lateral
distance or lever between the weight and buoyancy in this condition results in a
moment that brings the ship back to its original upright position.
 Figure 1: Stable equilibrium of a ship
The moment resulting in uprighting of the ship to its original orientation is
called Righting Moment. The lever that causes the righting of a ship is the
separation between the vertical lines passing through G and B1. This is called
the Righting Lever, and abbreviated as GZ (refer to the figure above).

An important relation between metacentric height (GM) and righting lever (GZ) can
also be obtained from the figure above.

2. Neutral Equilibrium:
This is the most dangerous situation possible, for any surface ship, and all
precautions must be taken to avoid it. It occurs when the vertical position of CG
coincides with the transverse metacentre (M). As shown in the figure below, in such
a condition, no righting lever is generated at any angle of heel. As a result, any
heeling moment would not give rise to a righting moment, and the ship would remain
in the heeled position as long as neutral stability prevails. The risk here is, at a larger
angle of heel in a neutrally stable shift, an unwanted weight shift due to cargo shifting
might give rise to a condition of unstable equilibrium.

Figure 2: Neutral Equilibrium

 

3. Unstable Equilibrium:
An unstable equilibrium is caused when the vertical position of G is higher than the
position of transverse metacenter (M). So, when the ship heels to an angle (say
theta- Ɵ), the center of buoyancy (B) now shifts to B1. But the righting lever is now
negative, or in other words, the moment created would result in creating further heel
until a condition of stable equilibrium is reached. If the condition of stable equilibrium
is not reached by the time the deck is not immersed, the ship is said to capsize.
 Figure 3: Unstable equilibrium.
Remember discussing, in the previous article,  that metacentric height is one of the
most vital parameters in the study of ship stability? We are now, in a position to
appreciate the same. A ship’s stability, as seen above, can be directly commented
on, by the value of its metacentric height (GM).

 GM > 0 means the ship is stable.

 GM = 0 means the ship is neutrally stable.
 GM < 0 means the ship is unstable.

Upsetting Forces On A Ship:

Analysis of static transverse stability arises from the effect of upsetting forces or
heeling moments, which can be categorised into two types depending on their
sources with respect to the ship:

Type 1: External Heeling Moments:

1. Beam winds:
Beam winds act on the portion of the ship above the ship above the waterline. The
resistance acts as an opposing force on the underwater part of the hull. Now, there
are two sets of force couples and corresponding moments generated, in this case.
Note the forces acting on the ship in the following figure.
The moment (clockwise) created by the wind force and water pressure is the heeling
moment, and the moment (anti-clockwise) created by the weight and buoyancy
couple acts as the righting moment. So, when a ship experiences beam winds, it will
till up to the angle at which the righting moment generated will cancel out the heeling
moment.

2. Lifting of Weight by the Sides:

Weights are usually loaded or unloaded by the sides of the ship when such
operations are carried out by the deck top crane. In this case, a heeling moment is
caused by a shift in the center of gravity. How?

To know further, the fundamental concept that needs to be understood is that when
a weight is lifted by a crane, its weight acts on the fulcrum – that is, the end of the
derrick of the crane, irrespective of the height of the weight above the ground. This
also means that once a weight (suppose, a container) is lifted from the berth, the
weight of the container acts through the end of the derrick (which is a fixed point with
respect to the ship), irrespective of the swinging motion of the container. Now, follow
the diagram below.

Figure 5: Shift of CG of ship during weight life by sides.

A container of weight (w) is lifted by the port side, but the centre of gravity of the
weight (g) will not lie on the centre of mass of the container, rather at the end of the
derrick. The ship and the container can now be treated as a two-point mass system.
The final centre of gravity of the system (G1) will lie on the line (shown in blue)
joining the initial CG of the ship (G) and the centre of gravity of the weight (g). Now,
since the final CG of the ship has shifted from the centreline, it will create a heeling
moment towards the port side. The ship will heel till it reaches an equilibrium position
(where buoyancy and weight finally act along the same line).
3. High Speed Turning Manoeuvres:
When a ship executes a turn, a centrifugal force acts horizontally on the centre of
gravity of the ship, in a direction opposite to that of the turn. This force is balanced
off by the hydrodynamic pressure acting on the underwater part of the hull in the
opposite direction. If you follow the figure below, it is evident that the ship heels in
the direction opposite to that of the turn till the righting moment generated due to
weight and buoyancy couple, equalises the heeling moment generated by the couple
of centrifugal force and hydrodynamic pressure. The sharper the turn, more the
centrifugal force generated, resulting in more angle of heel.

Figure 6: Ship heeling to port while executing a sharp turn to starboard.

 4. Grounding of ship:

When a ship grounds in such a way that only one side of the underwater hull is hit,
the upward reaction force at the point of contact between the hull and the seabed
results in heeling. Part of the energy of the forward motion of the ship is absorbed by
the upward reaction force (R) also causes the ship to initially lift up to a certain
extent. When the tide ebbs, the ship sits further down onto the rock, and the
magnitude of the reaction force increases. In such a condition, the buoyancy
reduces, because now the weight of the ship (w) is being supported by a
combination of the reaction force (R) and remaining buoyancy force (w-R), as shown
in the figure below.

Figure 7: Heel due to grounding of a ship.

The ship will heel up to the point where the moments of the weight of the ship (w)
and buoyancy (b) about the point of contact with the seabed are balanced. This is
exactly what happened on MV Costa Concordia, which was grounded, and as the
tide ebbed, it resulted in capsizing the ship. However, the capsizing was not a result
of grounding alone. The damage in hull caused by grounding adds to the effect,
which is something we will study in damaged stability.

Do note, that someone with a thorough knowledge of these basics would be able to
predict which side of the ship is grounded by just looking at the direction of heel. It
can be concluded from the above figure that if the port side of a ship’s hull hits the
seabed, it would heel to starboard, which can be proved by real images of MV
Concordia. Notice the direction of heel (Starboard side) in Figure 8. When the ship
was raised from the wreck area, the damage on the hull was clearly visible on the
port side (Figure 9).

Figure 8: MV Costa Concordia grounded – Credits: Rvongher/wikipedia.org

 

Figure 9: Hull damage spotted on port side after salvaging the wreck – Credits: Rvongher/wikipedia.org
5. Tension on mooring lines:
Ships are moored to bollards when berthed at a port, or moored to guyed buoys
while loading oil from offshore loading sites. If the mooring lines are too tensed, or in
case the ship drifts away from the moored point, the increased tension on mooring
lines causes the ship to heel. However, this can be easily prevented by adapting
proper mooring techniques.

Type 2: Internal Heeling Moments:

The previous cases studied were external phenomena resulting in heeling of a ship.
There are also numerous internal causes that result in the same. Most of these can
be prevented by taking proper operational measures, which we will discuss in later
articles. We will now focus only on how heeling moments are caused due to internal
phenomena.

1. Movement of Weight Athwartship:

Movement of any weight athwartship (in a transverse direction) will alter the position
of the centre of gravity of the ship (from G to G1), as shown in the figure below. The
initial lever created between weight acting through G1 and buoyancy acting through
‘B’ will create the heeling moment. The ship will heel to a point at which new centre
of buoyancy (B1) is at such a position such that weight and buoyancy act through the
same line.

This also happens when ballast water is transferred from one side to another, or
when ballast water is taken into only one side of a tank. In the case of passenger
ships, crowding of a majority of passengers on one side of the ship can also be
analysed as a case of weight shift.

It is important to understand that though this is an equilibrium condition, a heeled

condition is not desirable for operation of a ship. Hence, corrective measures must
be taken to bring the ship back to an upright position. We will study about corrective
measures in later articles.

Figure 10: Effect of transverse weight shift.

 2. Water Trapped on Deck:

Seawater often finds access to decks (mainly the weather deck), and if trapped on
deck, the motions of the ship will result in periodic weight shift in both directions,
creating cyclic heeling moments due to continuous change in CG of the ship.

In order to prevent this, access is provided from every deck leading to the bilges,
where green water (term used for seawater on deck) is stored.

Longitudinal Stability:

In all that we have discussed till now, we have dealt with only heeling of a ship. In
other words, we have been discussing only the transverse stability of a ship. But a
ship’s stability analysis is not just restricted to the transverse direction. Longitudinal
shifts in weights on-board, or any longitudinal trimming moment (a moment that
would cause the ship to trim), are aspects that are discussed under longitudinal
stability of a ship.

The figure below shows the effect of the shift of weight towards the aft of the ship,
resulting in trim by the stern. The centre of gravity of the ship (G) now shifts aft to a
new position (G1), which causes the trimming moment. The ship now trims by aft,
which means more volume of the hull is submerged at the aft, and part of the
submerged volume towards the forward now emerges. This causes a shift in the
centre of buoyancy of the ship towards the aft (from ‘B’ to ‘B1’). The equilibrium trim
angle is reached when the final centre of gravity (G1) lies in line with the final centre
of buoyancy (B1).

Figure 11: Trim of a ship due to longitudinal shift in centre of gravity.

The metacentre of the ship in its longitudinal direction is called the longitudinal
metacentre (ML), and the vertical distance between the centre of gravity and
longitudinal metacentre is called the longitudinal metacentric height of the ship
(GML). In a way similar to that of transverse stability, a positive longitudinal GM
means the ship is longitudinally stable, and will not plunge.
 The important thing to note here is that the values of longitudinal GM usually range
from 100 to 110 times the value of the transverse GM. And since the values of
transverse GM of all ship types vary from 0.2 to 0.5, it implies that GM in the
longitudinal direction is usually as high as 100 metres or above. It is due to this,
ships are inherently highly stable in the longitudinal direction, and hence, most
studies of ship stability are focused on the transverse stability of the ship.

Now that we have acquainted ourselves with equilibrium conditions of ships, and are
able to analyse the effect of upsetting forces on ships, we will look into analysing the
stability of a ship by stability curves, which provide us more window into
understanding and predicting the behaviour of a ship in diverse conditions at sea.

6 Basics That Will Make the Ship

Stability Easy to Understand
Like me if you too are not a naval architect, you and I don’t know how to build a ship. But let
us imagine we together built a ship. Or something looking like a ship. A smaller one may be.

With all our efforts, we put this small ship in the water. What will happen?

 Will the Ship sink or float

 Will the ship tilt (list) on starboard side or port side

 Will the ship have any trim or not. If yes, will the trim be by the head or by astern?

If I want to know the answers to these questions, one thing is for sure. We need to be able to
understand the language of ship stability.

But Let’s be honest: understanding ship stability can be a huge pain.

Trust me, I know.

But not if you know the basics of ship stability. Once you know these basics, all other parts of
ship stability will be as easy as eating a pancake.

And I am talking about most basics things here.

Understanding these basics forms the foundation of ship stability.

In this post, I will discuss 6 of these basic things of ship stability. Let us start.
 1. Archemidies Principle

Why does a small metal ball sink in water but not ship? Probably the first question that a Pre-
sea cadet is asked during his training.

While the question is quite basic, the answer forms the foundation of ship stability.

The answer lies in the Archimedes principle.

So what exactly is Archimedes principle? As per Archimedes principle

A body wholly or partially immersed in a liquid is subject to an upthrust equal to the weight

of the liquid displaced by the body.

Let us first understand two keywords in the Archimedes principle.

 Upthrust

 Liquid displaced
Upthrust

Try to force a ball down into the water. You will feel a force stopping you from doing that.
This is the upthrust we are talking about in Archimedes principle.

This force is also called “Force of Buoyancy” or simply buoyancy.

This upthrust will be there on any object you place in water.

Liquid displaced

When we place any object into the water, that object would displace some water. I bet
everyone knows it because even the birds know it. Remember the story of thirsty crow?

So if we drop a stone in a jar completely filled with water, some water would spill out of the
jar because the stone has displaced some water.

The volume of water displaced would be equal the volume of the stone.

Now let us see what Archimedes principle is trying to say? It is giving us a way to calculate
the amount of upthrust that an object will feel when immersed in water (or in any liquid).

This upthrust will be equal to the weight (not volume) of liquid displaced by the object.

2. How do ships float?

So if we have to make something float, all we have to do is to make sure that it displaces
more water than its own weight.

Let us say a ship’s light weight is 10000 T. And we have a solid cube of 10000 T weight
made of same material.

If both are put in water, while the ball will sink, the ship would float. Why?

The weight is same, the material is same and both are placed in the same water.

As the weight of both is same, the downward gravitational force acting on both is same. But
the upthrust acting on the ship will be more than that acting on the ball.

Let us see why?

 The upthrust acting on the steel cube will be 1025 T. As the weight of the cube (downward
force) is 8000 T, the cube will continue to move downwards and will sink.

Now let us see the forces on a ship with lightweight of 8000 T.

A ship of this light weight is generally of the approximate size of

 Length: 150 meters

 Breadth: 30 Meters

 Height from keel to the main deck: 20 meters

If it is submerged to its full height, it would displace 63000 m3 (150m x 30m x 20m x 0.7) of
water. This is considering the block coefficient of the ship is 0.7.

This means that the upthrust acting on the ship would be 64575 T.
The downward force is same as was for the steel cube.

So why did the ship float while the steel cube sank? That is because the upthrust
(Buoyancy) for the ship is much more than that of the cube of the same weight.

3. Buoyancy

We saw that the ship in the example was able to generate 64575 T of buoyancy when
immersed up to the deck line.

As the weight of the ship was 8000 T, this means that the ship will have a net upward force of
56575 T.

This upward force will keep on raising the ship until the upthrust is equal to the weight of the
ship. So at the equilibrium, the upthrust (buoyancy) will be equal to the weight of the ship
which is 8000 T.

The remaining buoyancy of 56757 T will act as reserve buoyancy.

So when a ship is at rest, the upthrust (buoyancy) acting on the ship will be equal to the
gravitational force acting on the ship.
 When we add a weight on the ship, this equilibrium is offset as the gravitational force
increases. This will cause the ship to sink, till the time buoyancy becomes equal to the
downward gravitational force.

In short, if a ship will float or sink, how much will it sink and how will it float is the function
of these two forces acting in opposite direction

 Upward-acting force of buoyancy

 Downward acting gravitational force

4. Center of Gravity

The center of gravity of any object is the point on that body at which the total weight of the
object is assumed to be acting vertically downwards.

This point is an imaginary point.

For objects in uniform shapes and made of a uniform material, knowing the center of gravity
is an easy task. For these objects, the center of gravity is the centroid of the shape.
For objects of irregular shape such as ships, the center of gravity is again the centroid of this
irregular shape.

But in this case, it is too difficult to find the centroid of the shape.

But what is the significance of center of gravity of any object?

First, for the stability calculations, this is the point where we can consider the gravitational
force acting downwards.

Second, this is the point from which the object will balance.

So where is the center of gravity acting on a ship and how can we know its location?

Center of gravity of the ship is measured from three dimensions.

From the centerline of the ship

The first dimension is knowing the location of the center of gravity from the centerline of the
ship.

If the COG is on the centerline, the ship will be upright (no list). But if the COG of the ship is
not on the centerline, the ship will have a list towards the side of COG.
So guess which side the ship would be listed if the COG is as indicated in the above photo?

More away the COG is from the centerline, the larger will the ship be listed.

Sometimes this distance is also referred as TCG (transverse center of gravity)

Location from the forward aft or midship of the ship

The second dimension is the location of COG from the forward perpendicular, aft
perpendicular or from the midship of the ship.

This term is called Longitudinal center of gravity or LCG.

LCG is tabulated in the hydrostatic particulars of the ship for different drafts and tr

The location of LCG decides which way the ship will be trimmed. If the location of LCG is
exactly at the midship, the ship will have no trim.
But if the LCG is forward of the midship, the ship will be trimmed by the head. Same way, if
the LCG is aft of the midship, ship will be trimmed by the stern.

Location from the Bottom (Keel) of the ship

The third dimension is the location of COG from the keel of the ship. This is known as the
Vertical center of gravity (VCG) or simply KG.

If the heavier weights are loaded on the top part of the ship, then COG of the ship will be
towards the top of the vessel. In this case, KG of the ship will be a larger value.

If the heavier weights are loaded on the bottom part of the ship, COG will be towards the
bottom of the ship and KG of the ship will be a smaller value.

We have already discussed that TCG value decides to the list of the ship and LCG value
corresponds to the trim of the ship.

Then what is the significance of the KG (or VCG) of the ship?

To understand the significance of KG, let me ask you a question.

If you are given a task to carry a cube weighing few kilos attached with a rod, how will you
hold it? From the rod (position A) or from the cube (position B)?

I am sure you would agree that it is much easier to hold the cube than to hold the rod. This is
because when the “Center of Gravity” is higher, this whole thing is less stable and can topple
with slight external force (like if you are moving in the wind).

Same goes with the ship and any other object. Higher the “center of gravity”, less stable it
would be.

So in the case of ships, larger the KG, less stable the ship would be.

5. Center of Buoyancy

Just as the weight of the vessel was assumed to act downward through the center of gravity,
the buoyancy force is assumed to act vertically upwards through a single point as well.

This point is known as the center of buoyancy.

The center of buoyancy is the centroid of the underwater part of the vessel.

 For the sake of understanding, we can say that center of buoyancy is the center of gravity of
the underwater volume of the ship.

As with the COG, COB can also be measured from three dimensions but measuring it from
the centerline of the ship has no significance.

So the center of buoyancy is measured from two dimensions.

 From the bottom (keel) of the ship (KB); and

 From aft, forward or midship of the ship (LCB)

6. Equilibrium between COG and COB

This is the crux of the whole ship stability. A ship behaves the way it does because these two
opposite forces are trying to balance out and bring the ship to the state of equilibrium.

But for any two forces to balance out, two things need to happen.

 Both the forces need to be equal; and

 Both the forces need to act exactly opposite to each other

Forces at COG and COB need to be equal

We have already discussed this. When we place weight on a ship at rest, the gravitational
force acting downwards increases.

This will cause the ship to sink to a point where the force of buoyancy will become equal to
the gravitational force.
COG and COB need to vertically in line

Now consider that we place additional weight away from the location of ship’s center of
gravity.

The ship’s center of gravity will shift and will no longer be in vertical line with COB. This
will cause a righting couple that would try to bring both COG and COB in same vertical line.

This righting couple will cause the vessel to trim. The vessel will trim up to a point where
COB will be vertically in line with the COG of the ship.

Initial stability
Initial stability is the resistance of a boat to small changes in the difference between the vertical
forces applied on its two sides. It is determined by the angle of tilting on each side of the boat as
its center of gravity (CG) moves sideways as a result of the passengers or cargo moving
laterally, or as a response to an external force (e.g. wave).
The wider the boat and the further its volume is distributed away from its center line (CL), the
greater the initial stability.
Wide mono-hull small boats such as the jonsboat have a great deal of initial stability and allow
the occupants to stand upright to engage in fishing activities, and so do narrower small boats
such as W-kayaks that feature a twin hull.
Very narrow mono-hull boats such as canoes and kayaks have little initial stability, but twin-hull
W-kayaks are considerably more stable due to the fact that their buoyancy is distributed at a
greater distance from their center line and therefore acts more effectively to reduce tilting. For
purposes of stability, it is advantageous to keep the centre of gravity as low as possible in small
boats, so occupants are generally seated. Flatwater rowing shells, which have length
to beam ratios of up to 30:1 are inherently unstable and must be actively balanced by the
athletes.
After approximately 10 degrees of lateral tilt hull shape gains importance and secondary
stability becomes the dominant consideration in boat stability.

Metacentric height
The metacentric height (GM) is a measurement of the initial static stability of a floating body. It

is calculated as the distance between the centre of gravity of a ship and its metacentre. A larger

metacentric height implies greater initial stability against overturning. The metacentric height also

influences the natural period of rolling of a hull, with very large metacentric heights being

associated with shorter periods of roll which are uncomfortable for passengers. Hence, a

sufficiently, but not excessively, high metacentric height is considered ideal for passenger ships.

Ship stability diagram showing centre of gravity (G), centre of buoyancy (B), and metacentre (M) with ship

upright and heeled over to one side.
As long as the load of a ship remains stable, G is fixed. For small angles M can also be considered to be
fixed, while B moves as the ship heels.

Metacentre
When a ship heels (rolls sideways), the centre of buoyancy of the ship moves laterally. It might
also move up or down with respect to the water line. The point at which a vertical line through the
heeled centre of buoyancy crosses the line through the original, vertical centre of buoyancy is the
metacentre. The metacentre remains directly above the centre of buoyancy by definition.
In the diagram, the two Bs show the centres of buoyancy of a ship in the upright and heeled
conditions, and M is the metacentre. The metacentre is considered to be fixed relative to the ship
for small angles of heel; however, at larger angles of heel, the metacentre can no longer be
considered fixed, and its actual location must be found to calculate the ship's stability. The
metacentre can be calculated using the formulae:
KM = KB + BM
BM = I / V
Where KB is the centre of buoyancy (height above the keel), I is the second moment of area of
the waterplane in metres4 and V is the volume of displacement in metres3. KM is the distance
from the keel to the metacentre.[1]
Stable floating objects have a natural rolling frequency, just like a weight on a spring, where the
frequency is increased as the spring gets stiffer. In a boat, the equivalent of the spring stiffness is
the distance called "GM" or "metacentric height", being the distance between two points: "G" the
centre of gravity of the boat and "M", which is a point called the metacentre.
Metacentre is determined by the ratio between the inertia resistance of the boat and the volume
of the boat. (The inertia resistance is a quantified description of how the waterline width of the
boat resists overturning.) Wide and shallow or narrow and deep hulls have high transverse
metacenters (relative to the keel), and the opposite have low metacenters; the extreme opposite
is shaped like a log or round bottomed boat.
Ignoring the ballast, wide and shallow or narrow and deep means that the ship is very quick to
roll and very hard to overturn and is stiff. A log shaped round bottomed means that it is slow to
roll and easy to overturn and tender.
"G", is the center of gravity. "GM", the stiffness parameter of a boat, can be lengthened by
lowering the center of gravity or changing the hull form (and thus changing the volume displaced
and second moment of area of the waterplane) or both.
An ideal boat strikes a balance. Very tender boats with very slow roll periods are at risk of
overturning, but are comfortable for passengers. However, vessels with a higher metacentric
height are "excessively stable" with a short roll period resulting in high accelerations at the deck
level.
Sailing yachts, especially racing yachts, are designed to be stiff, meaning the distance between
the centre of mass and the metacentre is very large in order to resist the heeling effect of the
wind on the sails. In such vessels, the rolling motion is not uncomfortable because of the moment
of inertia of the tall mast and the aerodynamic damping of the sails.

Different centres

Initially the second moment of area increases as the surface area increases, increasing BM, so Mφ moves
to the opposite side, thus increasing the stability arm. When the deck is flooded, the stability arm rapidly
decreases.

The centre of buoyancy is at the centre of mass of the volume of water that the hull displaces.
This point is referred to as B in naval architecture. The centre of gravity of the ship is commonly
denoted as point G or VCG. When a ship is at equilibrium, the centre of buoyancy is vertically in
line with the centre of gravity of the ship.[2]
The metacentre is the point where the lines intersect (at angle φ) of the upward force of
buoyancy of φ ± dφ. When the ship is vertical, the metacentre lies above the centre of gravity
and so moves in the opposite direction of heel as the ship rolls. This distance is also abbreviated
as GM. As the ship heels over, the centre of gravity generally remains fixed with respect to the
ship because it just depends on the position of the ship's weight and cargo, but the surface area
increases, increasing BMφ. Work must be done to roll a stable hull. This is converted to potential
energy by raising the centre of mass of the hull with respect to the water level or by lowering the
centre of buoyancy or both. This potential energy will be released in order to right the hull and the
stable attitude will be where it has the least magnitude. It is the interplay of potential and kinetic
energy that results in the ship having a natural rolling frequency. For small angles, the
metacentre, Mφ, moves with a lateral component so it is no longer directly over the centre of
mass.[3]
The righting couple on the ship is proportional to the horizontal distance between two equal
forces. These are gravity acting downwards at the centre of mass and the same magnitude force
acting upwards through the centre of buoyancy, and through the metacentre above it. The
righting couple is proportional to the metacentric height multiplied by the sine of the angle of heel,
hence the importance of metacentric height to stability. As the hull rights, work is done either by
its centre of mass falling, or by water falling to accommodate a rising centre of buoyancy, or both.
For example, when a perfectly cylindrical hull rolls, the centre of buoyancy stays on the axis of
the cylinder at the same depth. However, if the centre of mass is below the axis, it will move to
one side and rise, creating potential energy. Conversely if a hull having a perfectly rectangular
cross section has its centre of mass at the water line, the centre of mass stays at the same
height, but the centre of buoyancy goes down as the hull heels, again storing potential energy.
When setting a common reference for the centres, the molded (within the plate or planking) line
of the keel (K) is generally chosen; thus, the reference heights are:

 KB – to Centre of Buoyancy

 KG – to Centre of Gravity
 KMT – to Transverse Metacentre
Righting arm

Distance GZ is the righting arm: a notional lever through which the force of buoyancy acts

The metacentric height is an approximation for the vessel stability at a small angle (0-15
degrees) of heel. Beyond that range, the stability of the vessel is dominated by what is known as
a righting moment. Depending on the geometry of the hull, naval architects must iteratively
calculate the center of buoyancy at increasing angles of heel. They then calculate the righting
moment at this angle, which is determined using the equation:
RM = GZ . ∆

Where RM is the righting moment, GZ is the righting arm and Δ is the displacement. Because the
vessel displacement is constant, common practice is to simply graph the righting arm vs the
angle of heel. The righting arm (known also as GZ — see diagram): the horizontal distance
between the lines of buoyancy and gravity.[3]

GZ = GM x singθ  at small angles of heel

There are several important factors that must be determined with regards to righting
arm/moment. These are known as the maximum righting arm/moment, the point of deck
immersion, the downflooding angle, and the point of vanishing stability. The maximum righting
moment is the maximum moment that could be applied to the vessel without causing it to
capsize. The point of deck immersion is the angle at which the main deck will first encounter the
sea. Similarly, the downflooding angle is the angle at which water will be able to flood deeper into
the vessel. Finally, the point of vanishing stability is a point of unstable equilibrium. Any heel
lesser than this angle will allow the vessel to right itself, while any heel greater than this angle will
cause a negative righting moment (or heeling moment) and force the vessel to continue to roll
over. When a vessel reaches a heel equal to its point of vanishing stability, any external force will
cause the vessel to capsize.
Sailing vessels are designed to operate with a higher degree of heel than motorized vessels and
the righting moment at extreme angles is of high importance.
Monohulled sailing vessels should be designed to have a positive righting arm (the limit of
positive stability) to at least 120° of heel,[4] although many sailing yachts have stability limits down
to 90° (mast parallel to the water surface). As the displacement of the hull at any particular
degree of list is not proportional, calculations can be difficult, and the concept was not introduced
formally into naval architecture until about 1970.[5]

Stability[edit]
GM and rolling period[edit]
The metacentre has a direct relationship with a ship's rolling period. A ship with a small GM will
be "tender" - have a long roll period. An excessively low or negative GM increases the risk of a
ship capsizing in rough weather, for example HMS  Captain or the Vasa. It also puts the vessel at
risk of potential for large angles of heel if the cargo or ballast shifts, such as with the Cougar Ace.
A ship with low GM is less safe if damaged and partially flooded because the lower metacentric
height leaves less safety margin. For this reason, maritime regulatory agencies such as
the International Maritime Organization specify minimum safety margins for seagoing vessels. A
larger metacentric height on the other hand can cause a vessel to be too "stiff"; excessive
stability is uncomfortable for passengers and crew. This is because the stiff vessel quickly
responds to the sea as it attempts to assume the slope of the wave. An overly stiff vessel rolls
with a short period and high amplitude which results in high angular acceleration. This increases
the risk of damage to the ship and to cargo and may cause excessive roll in special
circumstances where eigenperiod of wave coincide with eigenperiod of ship roll. Roll damping by
bilge keels of sufficient size will reduce the hazard. Criteria for this dynamic stability effect remain
to be developed. In contrast, a "tender" ship lags behind the motion of the waves and tends to
roll at lesser amplitudes. A passenger ship will typically have a long rolling period for comfort,
perhaps 12 seconds while a tanker or freighter might have a rolling period of 6 to 8 seconds.
The period of roll can be estimated from the following equation: [2]
2 π ( a44 +k )
T= T
√ gGM

where g is the gravitational acceleration, a44 is the added radius of gyration and k is the radius of

gyration about the longitudinal axis through the centre of gravity and  is the stability index.

Damaged stability
If a ship floods, the loss of stability is caused by the increase in KB, the centre of buoyancy, and
the loss of waterplane area - thus a loss of the waterplane moment of inertia - which decreases
the metacentric height.[2] This additional mass will also reduce freeboard (distance from water to
the deck) and the ship's angle of down flooding (minimum angle of heel at which water will be
able to flow into the hull). The range of positive stability will be reduced to the angle of down
flooding resulting in a reduced righting lever. When the vessel is inclined, the fluid in the flooded
volume will move to the lower side, shifting its centre of gravity toward the list, further extending
the heeling force. This is known as the free surface effect.
Free surface effect
Further information: Free surface effect

In tanks or spaces that are partially filled with a fluid or semi-fluid (fish, ice, or grain for example)
as the tank is inclined the surface of the liquid, or semi-fluid, stays level. This results in a
displacement of the centre of gravity of the tank or space relative to the overall centre of gravity.
The effect is similar to that of carrying a large flat tray of water. When an edge is tipped, the
water rushes to that side, which exacerbates the tip even further.
The significance of this effect is proportional to the cube of the width of the tank or compartment,
so two baffles separating the area into thirds will reduce the displacement of the centre of gravity
of the fluid by a factor of 9. This is of significance in ship fuel tanks or ballast tanks, tanker cargo
tanks, and in flooded or partially flooded compartments of damaged ships. Another worrying
feature of free surface effect is that a positive feedback loop can be established, in which the
period of the roll is equal or almost equal to the period of the motion of the centre of gravity in the
fluid, resulting in each roll increasing in magnitude until the loop is broken or the ship capsizes.
This has been significant in historic capsizes, most notably the MS  Herald of Free Enterprise and
the MS  Estonia.

Transverse and longitudinal metacentric heights [edit]

There is also a similar consideration in the movement of the metacentre forward and aft as a ship
pitches. Metacentres are usually separately calculated for transverse (side to side) rolling motion
and for lengthwise longitudinal pitching motion. These are variously known
as  and , GM(t) and GM(l), or sometimes GMt and GMl .
Technically, there are different metacentric heights for any combination of pitch and roll motion,
depending on the moment of inertia of the waterplane area of the ship around the axis of rotation
under consideration, but they are normally only calculated and stated as specific values for the
limiting pure pitch and roll motion.

Measurement[edit]
The metacentric height is normally estimated during the design of a ship but can be determined
by an inclining test once it has been built. This can also be done when a ship or offshore floating
platform is in service. It can be calculated by theoretical formulas based on the shape of the
structure.
The angle(s) obtained during the inclining experiment are directly related to GM. By means of the
inclining experiment, the 'as-built' centre of gravity can be found; obtaining GM and KM by
experiment measurement (by means of pendulum swing measurements and draft readings), the
centre of gravity KG can be found. So KM and GM become the known variables during inclining
and KG is the wanted calculated variable (KG = KM-GM)

Ship Stability: Basic terminology and their

explanation
Ship stability is a varied topic and most important for all seafarer and they should know the basics
of this. Whenever anybody thinks of ship their very first question regarding it will be how does
this thing float? There are a variety of ships ranging from very large crude carrier vessels to very
small offshore support vessel. But the basis of any ship(or any other object) floating on water is
same. We need to start from the very beginning of this question.

How do things float?

It can be defined by Law of  Buoyancy or Archimedes’ Principle which state that “When a body
is immersed completely or partially in a fluid, it experiences an upward force that is equal to the
weight of the fluid displaced by the body.” Therefore anybody to float the upward force or
buoyancy should always be equal to or more than the weight of the body. These three images will
make your concept much clear.
Same is there with a ship, which is made of Iron very heavy weight, carrying a million tonnes of
cargo.

Why ship floats?

Obviously, ship displaces water whose weight is equal to its own weight. Therefore it floats. And
here we got one more definition of Displacement of a ship. Displacement: This is the equivalent
mass of water displaced by the hull. It is therefore equal to the Total weight of the vessel. The
units are tons (long). Please remember ship displace different quantity/volume of water in fresh
and sea water but the weight remains the same, coz both water are having different specific
gravity(sea water of specific gravity sg = 1.025 and fresh water of sg=1.0).
Ship stability is much more complex than this small description of buoyancy and upthrust force.
Because of its complex shape and uneven weight distribution on a ship. We need to understand
basic terminology of ship stability. Have a look at this image, it includes all the basic terms which
are either responsible for ship stability or gets affected by it.
 Here we will define some of the basic terms related to ships stability. These includes:

 Centre of Gravity (COG):   It is the point at which the whole weight of the ship (or object)
is assumed to be acting vertically downwards.
 Centre of Buoyancy (COB): It is the point at which the whole buoyancy force on the ship (or
object) is assumed to be acting vertically upwards.
 Metacenter (M): It is point through which the force of bouncy acts on a ship. In detail if a
line of buoyancy force is extended it will meet the line of gravitational force, this point of intersection
is called as Metacenter.
 The height of Metacenter above keel (KM): It is the distance between keel of the ship to
Metacentre.
 The height of Centre of Gravity above keel (KG): It is the distance between keel of the ship
to Centre of Gravity (COG).
 Metacentric Height (GM): It is the distance between Centre of Gravity(COG) to Metacenter.
It should always be positive for any ship to be stable.
The above-shown example is an ideal situation in which ship is upright. But what if a ship has
tilted to port or starboard side of the ship or in the aft and forward of the ship? How do we show
this stability of our ship in diagrams?

A ship is always subjected to different kind of forces even if it’s not moving. The weight
distribution and waterplane area of the ship is not same at all time. Therefore the position of the
Centre of Gravity or/and Centre of Buoyancy is not always same. It shifts according to resultant
of these forces. Before moving to that question we need to understand the shift in the position of
Centre of Gravity and Centre of Buoyancy.

Shift in position of Center of Gravity due to addition of mass

1. Whenever mass is added to a ship, the CG of the ship moves towards that added mass. The
distance moved by CG depends upon:
 Magnitude of added mass
 Distance of mass from CG of ship
 Displacement of ship
2. Whenever mass which is already on board a ship is moved in any direction the ship’s COG
will also shit in the same direction.
3. The position of the CG of a hanging mass relative to the ship is at the point of its suspension.
The shift in the position of Center of Buoyancy: Similarly the Centre of Buoyancy will also
shift if there is any change in ship’s draft. As the vessel increases or reduces its draft so the centre
of buoyancy moves up or down respectively caused by an increase in water displaced.
Now let’s take a particular example of listing ship: effects due to listing

 As the vessel lists the

Centre of Buoyancy moves in a direction governed by the changing shape of the submerged part
of the hull. For small angles, the tendency is for the center of buoyancy to move towards the side
of the ships which is becoming more submerged. But in the second image when the water line
reaches and moves up to and above the main deck level a relatively smaller volume of the hull is
submerged on the lower side for every centimeter movement as the water moves up the deck. The
COB will now begin to move back towards centreline

The Metacenter M is a theoretical point through which the buoyant forces act at small angles of
list. At these small angles, the center of buoyancy tends to follow an arc subtended by
the metacentric radius BM which is the distance between the Metacenter and the center of
buoyancy. As the vessels draft changes so do the metacenter moving up with

the  center of
buoyancy when the draft increases and vice versa when the draft decreases. For small angle
stability, it is assumed that the Metacenter does not move.

The above paragraph explains the basics of stability when a ship is having some list. But thing
changes drastically when an external force comes in and change the position of Centre of
buoyancy COB, that is when a ship is having some heel. to understand this we need to go through
equilibrium of ship.

Ship Stability Equilibrium:

  When the ship is inclined by an external force(or called heel) to an angle θ, the center of gravity
COG remains in the same position but the Centre of Buoyancy COB moves from B to B . The 1

force buoyancy, therefore acts up through B , while the weight still acts down through G, creating
1

a moment, which tends to return to the ship upright. This

moment is known the as righting moment and GZ is known as righting Lever. Since this moment
tends to right the ship, the ship is said to be stable. And this position is called as  Stable
Equilibrium.
  For a small angle of heel, up to 10 , the vertical through the centre of buoyancy B1 intercepts the
0

center line at M (as explained called as Metacentre)

Therefore, Righting Lever GZ = GM sinθ

Thus for a small angle of heel Gz is a function of GM and since GM is independent of θ while
GZ depends upon θ, it is necessary to express the initial stability of a ship in terms of GM.

When this angle of heel increases B will start moving outward, so GZ and GM will increase. But
1 

after a certain degree of heel this GZ & GM will start reducing and if further heeling is there, it
will come to zero(Centre of gravity and metacenter coincide), this situation is called as  Neutral
Equilibrium.

If ship further heel from this point Metacentre of a ship will come below the Centre of Gravity.
Now the righting moment of the ship will tend to increase the ship’s heel in the same direction
opposing the righting of the ship. This situation is called as Unstable Equilibrium. At the angle
of loll action should be taken to avoid this situation, it is very bad for any ship because the
stability of ship has been lost. It has been discussed on our next blog.
our next blog.

This blog has been written only for a small introduction to Ship Stability. We will post detail of
every topic related to ship stability in our further blogs. Please post your comments and doubts to
us.