APPENDIX 1 HYDROSTATIC

C O N D I T I O N S OF
FLOTATION

For a vessel floating on the surface, the hydrostatic properties of rele-

vance are the conditions of flotation and the stability of the vessel in rela-
tion to disturbances from the static flotation condition.
It is assumed that the water surface is calm and any movement of the
craft is sufficiently slow for any dynamic effects to be discounted.
Accepting Archimedes principle that a vessel will displace its own weight
of water, the initial requirement for flotation is that the intact hull is of suf-
ficient volume to displace its own weight whilst having a reasonable free-
board (height of weather deck above the waterline) and that it floats
upright. The volume of watertight hull above the waterline constitutes a
Reserve of Buoyancy (ROB). This ROB becomes important when consid-
ering the safety of the vessel in damaged conditions when water floods part
of the hitherto intact displacement volume below the waterline.
The stability of the vessel concerns the outcome of perturbations from
the static flotation condition. Sideways motion (sway), change of head-
ing (yaw) and fore or aft motion (surge) do not change the static condi-
tions of the hull and can be considered as neutral. Whereas roll motion
(heel), pitching and vertical motion (heave) result in changes in the dis-
tribution of buoyant volume and hence variation in the static equilibrium
condition. The question to be answered is whether after a disturbance
the vessel returns to its initial equilibrium state.
If a vessel heaves upwards then the displacement volume reduces and
the excess of unchanged weight over reduced buoyancy provides a force
in a direction restoring the vessel to its original position. The opposite
occurs if the vessel is disturbed downwards. This is clearly, in a static
sense, a stable motion. For a small heave motion the rate of change of
buoyancy is primarily dictated by the area of the hull at the intersection
with the water surface (WPA). The greater this area the larger the restor-
ing force for a unit of heave motion. This simple result is somewhat
modified by the vertical shaping of the hull at the waterline which can
result in the WPA increasing or decreasing with heave departures from
static equilibrium.
A pure forward pitching disturbance will cause the bow to go deeper
and the stern to rise. This results in a change in the longitudinal distribu-

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 HYDROSTATIC CONDITIONS OF FLOTATION 277

tion of buoyancy forces with more forward and less aft, which provides a
restoring moment to the ship so that it will return to the initial condi-
tions. The opposite situation arises for a stern pitch so this condition can
also be considered as statically stable. The magnitude of the restoring
moment will depend primarily on the longitudinal distribution of water-
plane area. A ship with fine ends will have less relative pitch restoring
moment than a vessel with full ends. The vertical changes in displace-
ment volume also modify the response so that a vessel with flared bows
will experience a strong restoring moment to large bow down pitch.
Though they have been treated as separate motions the changes in
waterplane due to heave and pitch interact so that strictly the stability
must be considered as coupled motions.
The static stability of the ship in roll (heel) motion is somewhat more
complex. In the equilibrium state the weight of the ship acts vertically
through the centre of gravity whilst the equal opposing buoyancy force
acts through the centre of the buoyant volume of displacement. At first
sight the condition for static heel stability requires that the centre of
gravity should be below the centre of buoyancy so that when the ship
heels a positive restoring moment is applied to return the ship upright.
This condition applies to a fully submerged submarine but is not a nec-
essary requirement for a surface ship. As with the pitch motion, when a
ship heels part of the hull on one side enters the water whilst on the other
side part of the hull emerges from the water. The result is a lateral shift in
the line of action of buoyancy force which provides a restoring moment
acting against the heel. (Figure Al.l(a)) For small angles of heel it is
found that the line of action of buoyancy forces acts through a point
above the upright centre of displacement volume. This point is termed
the transverse metacentre (M). Upright stability for small angles of heel
therefore requires that the centre of gravity must be below the meta-
centre and not necessarily below the centre of displacement
volume. This is usually defined as G M + ve, where G M is the vertical
distance between the centre of gravity and the metacentre.
Whilst strictly speaking static stability should only apply to small per-
turbations about the static equilibrium of flotation, in Naval
Architecture it is the practice to extend the considerations of heel stabil-
ity to very large angles.
For large heel angles the concept of a metacentre for the line of action
of buoyancy ceases to be useful. At some angle (30-40°) the edge of the
weather deck goes below the waterline. The increase in restoring
moment then starts to reduce. It reaches a maximum and then begins to
fall and may become zero at a large angle. This angle is known as the
angle of vanishing stability. A roll disturbance that causes the ship to pass
this angle will result in capsize with the vessel, if still intact, finding a new
equilibrium state upside down.

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 278 APPENDIX 1

To present the roll stability characteristics of a vessel to large angles a

different measure is used, which is represented as GZ , which is denned
as the normal distance between the parallel forces of weight and
buoyancy at any angle. (Figure Al.l(b)) Clearly, when upright, the
GZ value is zero and for small angles the relationship is that
GZ = G M sin(|). At large angles, however, that relationship no longer
holds.
The characteristics of the GZ curve depend on the shape characteris-
tics of the hull. Large beam serves to increase the lateral shift of buoy-
ancy and give a high initial metacentre. High freeboard increases the
angle of deck edge immersion, delaying the turn over of the GZ curve,
though there may be a rapid fall away to a relatively low angle of
vanishing stability. A cross-sectional shape of particular interest to sub-
marines is the circle. It can be shown that whatever the level or angle of
the flotation waterline on a circular cross-section the metacentre
always acts at the centre of the circle. (Figure A 1.1(c)) Thus the
modern submarine of circular section has a heel stability require-
ment that the centre of gravity should be below the circle centre
when upright. Submerged the waterplane effect disappears but the
centre of buoyancy is also near the centre of the circle so that BG is
also positive. Because these points are invariant with angle, the
GZ curve is a sine curve, BG sin<|), which is positive to 180°. As discussed
in Chapter 3, both the centre of gravity and the metacentre may migrate dur-
ing the transition from submerged to surface and the above conditions may
not then apply.

Buoyancy (b) GZ (c) circular section

(a) Metacentre

Fig. Al. 1 Measures of transverse stability

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