PRINCIPLES OF

STABILITY
 What is Stability?
 The ability of a vessel to return to the
upright when inclined from upright by an
external force.
 If the vessel will return to the upright it is
stable or in stable equilibrium and the
readiness with which she returns is a
measure of her stability.
 What is Mass?
 Mass is the fundamental measure of the
quantity of matter in a body and is expressed
in terms of the kilogram and the tonne.
 Weight of a body is the force exerted on it by
the earth gravitational force and is measured
in terms of the Newton(N)
 Weight force= Mass x Accelaration due to
gravity
 What is Volume?
 Volume of an object is the amount of
three dimensional space that it contains
or occupies.
 Volume of an object is measured in
cubic meters and its derivatives.
 What is Density?
 Density is defined as ‘mass per unit
volume’
 e.g. The mass density of FW =
1000kg/cm
 e.g. The mass density of SW =
1025kg/cm
 Density = Mass/Volume
The density of a substance is the volume that a certain
mass occupies. Or, to put it another way, it is the mass
of a certain volume of the substance. Generally, as
liquids and gases are heated they expand, and when
they are cooled they contract. The density will therefore
decrease with increasing temperature and increase with
decreasing temperature. Pure water deviates from this
slightly. Above 3.98°C, at normal atmospheric pressure,
the relationship of temperature to density holds true,
however, below 3.98°C, the density of pure water
decreases and ice is even less dense that water at
0.0001°C. The maximum density of pure water is 1.000
g.cm-3 at 3.98°C.
Specific Gravity or Relative density

 Specific gravity (SG) or relative density of a

substance is defined as the ratio of the weight
of the substance to the weight of an equal
volume of fresh water.
 If a volume of one cubic meter is considered.
Then the SG or relative density of a
substance is the ratio of the density of the
substance to the density of fresh water
Specific gravity is defined as the ratio of the density of a sample
(at a specific temperature) to the density of some standard (at
a specific temperature). For gases, the standard used is air. For
most solids and liquids, including seawater, the standard used is
pure water.
 SG or relative density of a substance = density of the
substance
density of fresh
water

The density of FW = 1000 kgs.per cu.m.

Therefore SG of a substance = density of the substance in

kgs.per cu.m.
1000

or Density in kgs.per cu.m. = 1000 x SG

Archimedes' Principle explains why
steel ships float
 The body is more dense than the fluid and sinks (F > F b)
The body is less dense and floats (F b > F)

The body is less dense and is held in place by an external force

 Objectives
 Understand Archimedes’ principle
 Understand the following terms and how they relate
to ship stability
– Center of Gravity
– Center of Buoyancy
– Reserve Buoyancy
– Couple
– Righting Arm
– Righting Moment
 Be able to define the terms related to how the ship
moves
 Be able to explain the free surface effect and how it is
related to ship stability
 Archimedes Principle

 It’s why ships float

 Useful for submarine and diving applications
 WATERLINE
RESERVE BUOYANCY

DRAFT FREEBOARD

DEPTH OF HULL
 Terms
 Center of Gravity – “G”
– An imaginary point within the ship through which
all gravity can be seen to act
– A spatially weighted average of smaller, individual
weights around the ship
– Is this fixed or can it move?
 Center of Buoyancy – “B”
– An imaginary point within the ship through which
the buoyant force can be seen to act
– Is this fixed or can it move?
– How would you want your “B” to be positioned
relative to “G”?
 Terms (cont)
 Metacenter – “M”
– Intersection of two successive lines of action of the
buoyant force as the ship heels through a very
small angle
– What does this tell us?
• It’s position with respect to “G” (“GM” or metacentric
height) gives us an indication of stability
 “Z”
– A point along the line forming the metacenter that
creates a right triangle with “M” & “G”
 More Terms
 Couple
– Two forces of equal magnitude acting in opposite
and parallel directions
– When inclining a ship, this couple produces either
a righting moment or an upsetting moment
depending on the relative location of B and G
 Righting Arm
– GZ = GM (sin (angle)) (in feet)
 Righting Moment
– RM = Weight x GZ (W) (ft-tons)
 STABILITY CURVES
 A plotted series of GZ values at
successive angles
 Factors involved
– G does not change position as heeling
angle changes
– B is always at the geometric center of the
volume of the underwater hull
– The shape of the underwater hull changes
as heeling angle changes
EFFECT OF DRAFT ON
RIGHTING ARM
 How the ship moves
 Roll
– Back/forth motion transversely
 Pitch
– Back/forth motion longitudinally
 Yaw
– Side to Side
 List
– Diff. between Port and Stbd draft
 Trim
– Diff. between fwd/aft draft
 FREE SURFACE EFFECT
 Occurs when a compartment or tank is
only partially flooded/filled
– As the ship rocks, water wants to maintain
a level condition
– Causes “sloshing” of water
– Momentum of water will bang against the
tank’s sides, further causing instability of
the vessel in that direction
 Review/Summary
 Define the following:
– Trim
– List
– Pitch
 What is the center of gravity?
 What is the metacenter and what does it tell
us about ship stability?
 State Archimedes’ principle. Why is it
important?
 What is a righting arm?
QUESTIONS ????