Ocean Engineering 26 (1999) 979990

Evaluation of cross curves of fishing vessels at

the preliminary design stage
Huseyin Ylmaza,*, Abdi Kuknerb
a
Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, Yldz Technical University, 80750
Besiktas, Istanbul, Turkey
b
Faculty of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, Istanbul Technical University, 80626 Maslak,
Istanbul, Turkey

Received 25 November 1997; accepted 19 February 1998

Abstract

The prediction of ship stability during the early stages of the design process is very important
from the point of a vessels safety. Hence, in this study, a formula is presented to estimate
cross curves of fishing vessels to predict initial stability at the preliminary design stage. For
this purpose, 175 fishing vessel forms have been generated from Doust trawler hull series.
The predictive technique is established by regression analysis of systematically varied fishing
vessel series data. The mathematical model is constructed as a function of main design para-
meters such as length to beam ratio LWL/BWL, beam to draft ratio BWL/T, moulded depth to draft
ratio D/T and block coefficient CB. This prediction is also used to determine the effect of
specific hull form parameters and load conditions on the stability of the fishing vessel. Some
basic considerations on how the proposed method can be applied to a new fishing vessel are
presented. 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Fishing vessel; Cross curves; Stability; Preliminary design

Nomenclature
ai, bij, cijk Regression coefficients of KN
BWL Moulded breadth at design waterline
BM The transverse metacentric radius
CB Block coefficient

* Corresponding author.

0029-8018/99/$ - see front matter 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 0 2 9 - 8 0 1 8 ( 9 8 ) 0 0 0 3 8 - 9
980 H. Ylmaz, A. Kukner / Ocean Engineering 26 (1999) 979990

CP Longitudinal prismatic coefficient

D Depth
GM Metacentric height
KB Height of centre of buoyancy
KG Vertical centre of gravity
KN Form stability lever in keel
LWL Length of waterline
T Design draft
TC Calculating draft
i Regression coefficients of KB
i Regression coefficients of BM
D/TC ratio
Heel angle

1. Introduction

The analytical, statistical and empirical formulations based on theoretical or

experimental information are the basic tools for naval architects to describe and to
compute various characteristics in vessel design. Naval architects have always been
attracted by more practical and faster tools since they shorten the computation time.
All types of ships are designed and operated to fulfil specific conditions efficiently
and safely. For this reason the stability of ships is of more crucial importance for
naval architects. At the preliminary design stage, the naval architect needs some
practical techniques to obtain appropriate designs and some indication of an accept-
able level of performance in assuring vessel safety. In recent years, the rapid develop-
ment of computers has been advantageous in improving computation procedures for
ship stability calculations. In this regard, by using a computer, approximate
expressions for ship stability computations can be obtained by analysing a large
number of calculations. The best approximate expression between dependent and
independent variables to an acceptable accuracy can be obtained by using well-
known regression analysis.
The aim of this paper is to derive a mathematical model for estimating the initial
stability of a fishing vessel by use of regression analysis. The mathematical model
based on hull form parameters is established for cross curves: KB and BM values.
Therefore, the systematically varied Doust trawler hull series (Doust, 1962) has been
chosen for the application of regression analysis to obtain an approximate expression
for the stability characteristics of fishing vessels.
The development of ship stability methods has had a long period of evolution.
During that period, many studies have been carried out on various aspects of the
problem. There are some papers concerning the application of regression analysis
for calculating the stability of ships, such as Campanile and Casella (1989); Kupras
(1976); Pal (1988). Campanile and Casella have investigated reduction of form stab-
ility for Series-60 ship forms in waves and have established some graphs for practical
calculation of the righting moment arm. Kupras has modeled KN values based
 H. Ylmaz, A. Kukner / Ocean Engineering 26 (1999) 979990 981

on design parameters for cargo ships at certain heeling angles. Pal used a similar
method as given in this study to develop a mathematical model for computation of
cross curves of fishing vessels at the preliminary design stage.

2. Regression analysis of stability parameters

The prediction of ship stability at the preliminary design stage is very difficult
since the initial stability of a ship cannot be easily predicted without knowing the
ships hull form and her centre of gravity initially. In this context, at the initial
stage of design, stability cross curves (KN T)a function of ship draft, transverse
metacentre above centre of buoyancy (BM) and centre of buoyancy above moulded
base (KB)are estimated by using approximate statistical methods. As can be seen
from the geometrical features of an inclined ship given in Fig. 1, the GM (metacentric
height) and GZ values can be written in terms of the above-mentioned quantities
and heel angle () as follows:
GM KB BM KG KM KG
GZ KN KG sin

The values of KB, BM and (KN ) for fishing vessels have been modeled in
terms of hull form parameters to obtain GM and (GZ ) by means of suggested
approximate expressions for KG and KG/D.
A number of fishing vessels have been derived from Doust Optimum trawler series

Fig. 1. Geometric representation of a heeled vessel.

982 H. Ylmaz, A. Kukner / Ocean Engineering 26 (1999) 979990

Fig. 2. Lines plan of a Doust vessel.

for the regression modelling of stability calculations. These newly generated fishing
vessel series contain 175 different trawler hull forms to cover appropriate ranges of
the design parameters, all of which have been derived from four parent forms. The
main purpose of generating 175 hull forms is to obtain a sufficient number of sample
stability data for reliable statistical evaluation. A typical geometry of a Doust fishing
vessel hull is shown in Fig. 2.
The parameter range of the Doust series is as follows:
4.400 LWL/BWL 5.800
2.00 BWL/T 2.600
0.582 CP 0.650

The above range of parameters was extended to take into consideration other fish-
ing vessel design parametric ranges:
3.000 LWL/BWL 6.000
2.000 BWL/T 3.000
0.582 CP 0.650
1.250 D/TC 3.500
where D/TC is the moulded depth to draft ratio. Some fishing vessel series covering
the above ranges are given in Table 1.

Table 1
The various parameter intervals for some fishing vessel series

Fishing vessel series LWL/BWL BWL/T CB LWL/1/3

UBC (Calisal and McGreer 1993) 2.604.00 2.003.00 0.530.61 3.004.47

ITU (Kafal, 1980) 3.305.00 2.003.20 0.350.56 3.406.10
BSRA (Pattulo and Thomson, 1965) 4.305.80 2.003.00 0.530.63 4.355.10
Ridgely-Nevitt (1967) 3.205.75 2.30 0.420.53 3.855.22
 H. Ylmaz, A. Kukner / Ocean Engineering 26 (1999) 979990 983

To make the design easier for these fishing vessel series, the relationship between
the prismatic coefficient CP and the block coefficient CB has been established by
means of regression analysis as follows:
CB 1.40923*CP2.0107 (1)
where CP varies between 0.582 and 0.650. Therefore, Eq. (1) yields the CB design
intervals as:
0.475 CB 0.593

2.1. Generation of trawler fishing vessel series

The generation of fishing vessels is achieved with constant ship length of 25.0 m
and their stability calculations are used in the regression analysis. 175 new ships are
generated from the Doust trawlers, incrementing the LWL/BWL ratio by 0.5. For each
LWL/BWL ratio, the BWL/T value is varied by 0.25 increments, and then for each BWL/T
ratio the prismatic coefficient (CP) is incremented by 0.017.
The stability computations for the extended Doust vessels are performed by com-
mon stability software based on the mathematical modelling of hull shape by means
of cubic spline curves. The results obtained from the implementation of the software
are used to establish approximated stability expression.

2.2. Modelling of cross curves (KN ) values

Since the (KN ) values have been modeled in terms of design parameters, it
is necessary to use the values of KN in non-dimensional form. Hence, the KN values
should be non-dimensionalised by dividing the moulded beam BWL which is one of
the most effective design parameters in a vessels stability calculations. At the begin-
ning of the regression modelling, the (KN ) curve has been fitted for the fifth
degree polynomial by using polynomial regression with the error of 1.0 2.0%
as follows:

KN/BWL aii (2)

i1

where is the heel angle in radians and ai is the polynomial coefficient which is
determined by the application of the least-squares method. In order to determine ai
coefficients as a function of design parameters influencing transverse stability, the
following multiple linear regression model can be used:

5 5

ai bij Xj (3)
i1 j0

where Xj is the jth design parameter and bij is the coefficient of the jth design para-
meter for the ith coefficient of the polynomial expression, ai. The selection of design
parameters (Xj, j 1, 2, , 5) can be made by systematic trial in which a parameter
984 H. Ylmaz, A. Kukner / Ocean Engineering 26 (1999) 979990

or combination of some parameters should give the highest possible correlation with
the computed righting arm curve defined by (KN ) values. The selected para-
meters used in this study are given in the following forms:
X0 1
X1 BWL/T
X2 CB
X3 (BWL/T)2
X4 (CB)2
X5 (BWL/T)CB

It is assumed that the draft is changed under different loading conditions. There-
fore, the bij coefficients given in Eq. (3) have been determined at each loading con-
dition. The other design parameter variations with the loading condition have been
considered as constant since it is difficult to carry out at the initial design stage.
Thus, the variations of bij coefficients are defined with the freeboard variation (D/TC)
only. For the inclusion of loading variation, the following third degree polynomial
regression with maximum error of 2% was used:

5 5 3

bij cijk k (4)

i1 j0 k1

where is D/TC.
The regression coefficients (cijk) obtained from the stability analysis of systematic
trawler fishing vessel series are given in Table 2. Using these coefficients, one can
easily compute the righting arm curve for a given set of the design parameters.

2.3. Regression modelling of KB and BM values

Using the same analogy and trawler fishing hull data as mentioned above for the
calculation of the (KN ) values, the values of centre of buoyancy above moulded
base (KB) and transverse metacentric height above buoyancy (BM) can be calculated
from the following expressions:
KB 0 1T 2CB (5)
BM 0 1(BWL T 2 1
) 2CB 1
(6)
where i and i (of which i 0, 1, 2) are regression coefficients. The selection of
the design parameters used in Eqs. (5) and (6) has been made by a systematic trial,
which looks for the correlative parameters with the (KB) and (BM) values evaluated
from hydrostatics computation of generated vessels. To take the different loading
conditions on Eqs. (5) and (6) into account, the regression coefficients should be
written in terms of draft change. Thus, the draft ratio (T/TC) is used in the expressions
of coefficients given in Table 3.
 H. Ylmaz, A. Kukner / Ocean Engineering 26 (1999) 979990 985

Table 2
The list of the computed regression coefficients

cij0 cij1 cij2 cij3

a1 b10 14.5172501 17.8008728 7.5667949 1.042955

b11 1.73563 1.569453 0.520218 0.0745
b12 46.418400 62.176200 27.246900 3.726970
b13 0.102047 0.022313 0.043447 0.006282
b14 35.525400 46.477500 20.174900 2.730700
b15 3.617750 5.287920 2.390860 0.333715

a2 b20 80.681100 112.747000 48.624100 6.650510

b21 7.159040 5.667280 0.867526 0.051304
b22 301.112000 439.710000 195.612000 26.839500
b23 1.385360 1.293880 0.361266 0.044145
b24 248.521000 365.492000 164.531000 22.787500
b25 14.138700 18.909700 7.217780 0.868490

a3 b30 148.346000 210.134000 89.834600 12.188900

b31 16.090200 11.840300 0.448405 0.212438
b32 551.771000 832.367000 375.990000 51.963000
b33 5.060520 5.894390 2.092560 0.267934
b34 481.359000 739.207000 342.379000 48.236000
b35 10.684300 9.906370 0.407090 0.350228

a4 b40 104.237000 148.216000 62.673800 8.458320

b41 13.600700 9.787280 0.241007 0.316934
b42 386.031000 596.394000 273.355000 38.092600
b43 5.484350 6.846290 2.582940 0.336006
b44 358.771000 567.088000 268.722000 38.392500
b45 4.111210 11.656300 9.137600 1.654000

a5 b50 24.839700 35.422000 14.820200 1.993980

b51 3.832210 2.738250 0.162629 0.110723
b52 92.240700 145.691000 67.730000 9.522420
b53 1.835370 2.376030 0.926898 0.121925
b54 92.087800 148.945000 71.903200 10.395500
b55 4.080020 7.727790 4.663540 0.764305

Table 3
i and i coefficients for the computation of KB and BM values.

i, Eq. (5) i, Eq. (6)

0 = 0.074972 + 0.093775(TC/T) 0 = 0.813763 + 1.19652(TC/T)1

1 = 0.010041 + 0.575977(TC/T) 1 = 0.030499 + 0.057877(TC/T)1
2 = 0.141681 0.177096(TC/T) 2 = 0.429173 0.630848(TC/T)1
986 H. Ylmaz, A. Kukner / Ocean Engineering 26 (1999) 979990

3. Application

The presented mathematical model can be applied to predict the stability parti-
culars of a proposed or new fishing vessel, whose hull design parameters should be
in the range of given values. A fishing vessel from the BSRA series was chosen as an
example. The principal dimensions of the vessel are given below. The computation
procedure for the righting arm curve (KN ) of a proposed fishing vessel should
be as follows:

Vessel BSRA trawler (derived)

Length at waterline (LWL) 30 (m)

Breadth at waterline (BWL) 6.0 (m)
Depth moulded (D) 3.84 (m)
Design draught (T) 2.4 (m)
Computation draft (TC) 2.4 (m)
Block coefficient (CB) 0.519

3.1. Calculation

1. Calculate regression parameters, Xi.

X0 1; X1 BWL/T 2.5; X2 CB 0.519; X3 (BWL/T)2 6.25; X4 (CB)2
0.2694; X5 (BWL/T)CB 1.2975; D/TC 1.6
2. Calculate regression coefficients, bij (see Table 2 and Eq. (4)).
bij cij0 cij1 cij2 2 cij3 3 (i 1, 2, , 5 j 1, 2, , 5)

b10 14.5172501 17.8008728 () 7.5667949(2) 1.042955(3)

b10 14.5172501 17.8008728 (1.6) 7.5667949(1.6)2 1.042955 (1.6)3
1.134878
b11 1.735630 1.569453 (1.6) 0.520218(1.6)2 0.0745 (1.6)3
0.25112

b10 1.134878; b20 2.47689296; b30 7.8175584; b40 7.10895072;
b50 2.06313008; b11 0.25112; b21 0.102117376; b31 0.836217152;
b41 1.377764256; b51 0.511798832; b12 1.42287; b22 11.591872;
b32 30.322248; b42 24.4378896; b52 6.47993232; b13 0.052255;
b23 0.05917504; b33 0.111008064; b43 0.233668176;
b53 0.09282392; b14 1.624197; b24 8.40444; b34 22.456616;
b44 17.89716; b54 4.731976; b15 0.08922; b25 1.19663824;
b35 2.689207712; b45 2.078602; b55 0.52362512
 H. Ylmaz, A. Kukner / Ocean Engineering 26 (1999) 979990 987

3. Calculate the ai values from Eq. (3).

ai bioXo bi1X1 bi2X2 bi3X3 bi4X4 bi5X5 (i 1, 2, , 5)
a1 b10X0 b11X1 b12X2 b13X3 b14X4 b15X5

a1 1.134878 - 0.25112 (2.5) - 1.42287 (0.519) 0.052255 (6.25)

1.624197 (0.269) - 0.08922 (1.2975)
a1 0.416943092

In a similar manner, the other values of ai are obtained as follows:

a1 0.416943092; a2 0.162627311; a3 0.221752757;
a4 0.040515513; a5 0.045288994
4. Substituting ai values into Eq. (2), one obtains KN values as:
KN (a11 a22 a33 a44 a55)BWL
KN (0.416943092 0.1626273112 0.2217527573
0.0405155134 0.0452889945) 6
where is in radians. The real and suggested method computation results of (KN
) values for the sample fishing vessel have been shown in Fig. 3.
For other loading conditions, the KN values have been computed by changing the
draft values only. The KN T values of the real and suggested method computation
results for different heeling angles have been plotted in Fig. 4.

Fig. 3. KN values for the sample vessel.

988 H. Ylmaz, A. Kukner / Ocean Engineering 26 (1999) 979990

Fig. 4. KN T values for the sample vessel.

3.2. Calculation of KM value (see Eqs. (5) and (6))

KB 0 1T 2CB
BM 0 1(BWL2T 1
) 2C1
B

TC
1
T

0 0.168747; 1 0.586018; 2 0.31877; 0 0.382757; 1 0.088376;

2 0.201675
KB 1.4097 [m]
BM 1.3198 [m]
KM KB BM
2.7296 [m]

The KM values of the actual and suggested method computation results for the
sample fishing vessel are shown in Fig. 5.

4. Conclusions

The present method and the computational tool given in this paper can be success-
fully applied to the calculation of a fishing vessels form stability at the preliminary
 H. Ylmaz, A. Kukner / Ocean Engineering 26 (1999) 979990 989

Fig. 5. Comparison of KM values.

design stage. The accuracy of the method is based on the hull form parameters as
given previously. It is seen from the computational results that the present method
gives very high accuracy for Doust vessels series, and for the different hull forms and
parameters such as BSRA fishing vessel series the level of error is still acceptable. If
the approximate value of KG is given for a fishing vessel, the initial and static
stability calculation of the vessel can be carried out at the preliminary design stage.
One of the other important results of this study is to obtain the appropriate design
parameters by using the present methods stability particulars. This gives the designer
an idea for obtaining suitable design parameters to predict the highest performance
of fishing hull from the point of view of vessel stability.

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