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INTRODUCTION TO SHIP HYDROSTATICS

The concept of hydrostatics and stability can be deemed as one of the most important areas of focus in
ship design and operation, not only to ensure the safety of the ship, cargo, crew and passengers but also
to enable proper conditions for completion of all the processes on a ship.

Ship Hydrostatics

Some characteristic parameters calculated for a floating ship, which can either directly be used to
comment on the nature of stability of the ship or be used to evaluate other stability parameters, are
called ship hydrostatics. Ship hydrostatics studies the condition of the equilibrium of a floating body and
submerged body.

For a designer to be able to develop a hull form, or a ship’s captain to understand the stability
parameters, it is important for both to be able to understand the meaning and practical significance of
each hydrostatic parameter of a surface ship.

• Vertical, Longitudinal and Transverse Center of Gravity

• Vertical, Longitudinal and Transverse Center of Buoyancy
• Mass Displacement (Δ)
• Volume Displacement (∇)
• Longitudinal and Transverse Centre of Floatation
• Metacentre
• Metacentric Height
• Metacentric Radius
• Moment to Change Trim 1 cm (MCT)
• Tonnes per cm Immersion (TPC)

To understand hydrostatics, we need to acquaint ourselves with a few basic ship terminologies that
often appear in the process of understanding and evaluating of hydrostatics and stability parameters of
a surface ship.

Figure 1: Length Parameters of a Surface Ship.

NA 2: Ship Hydrostatics Introduction to Ship Hydrostatics Week No. 1 Handout

 STI Academic Center
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• Forward Perpendicular: The perpendicular drawn at the point where the bow of the ship meets
the waterline while it floats at design draft, is called Forward Perpendicular (FP).
• Aft perpendicular: The perpendicular drawn through the rudder stock is called the Aft
Perpendicular (AP).
• Length between Perpendiculars (LPP or LBP): The longitudinal distance between the forward
and aft perpendiculars is called length between perpendiculars.
• Length of Waterline (LWL): The length of the ship’s hull intersecting the surface of the water is
called Length on Waterline.
• Length Overall (LOA): The maximum length from the forward most point of the ship’s hull to the
aft-most point, is called Length Overall.
• Keel (K): The keel is the lowermost point of the ship at any point of its length. The baseline of a
ship is the longitudinal line that runs along the keel.

Another important technique used in the calculation of ship hydrostatics and stability parameters is that
of stations. A ship’s hull is longitudinally divided into stations, which are nothing but specified positions
along the length of the ship with reference to the aft perpendicular which is numbered as zero station.

Figure 2: Stations along a ship.

The distance between each station remains constant in the vicinity of the midship where a significant
parallel mid-body shape prevails. But as we move towards the aft or forward, the shape of the hull
attains a complex geometry, and hence for better results of analyses, the distance between the stations
are reduced.

See video link for further understanding https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AC9EULljVbo

1. Center of Gravity (CG):

The longitudinal position of the CG with respect to any reference point on the ship is called the
longitudinal centre of gravity (LCG). Usually, the reference point for locating the LCG is either of the
forward or aft perpendiculars.

NA 2: Ship Hydrostatics Introduction to Ship Hydrostatics Week No. 1 Handout

 STI Academic Center
P. Sanchez Street corner Pat Antonio
Street Sta. Mesa Manila, 1035 Metro Manila

The vertical distance (along the ship’s centerline) between the keel and the centre of gravity is
expressed as ‘KG’, as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 3: Transverse view of hydrostatic parameters.

2. Center of Buoyancy (CB):

The longitudinal position of the centre of buoyancy with respect to any reference point on the ship is
called the longitudinal centre of gravity (LCB). Usually, the reference point for locating the LCG is either
of the forward or aft perpendiculars.

The vertical distance (along the ship’s centerline) between the keel and the centre of buoyancy is
expressed as ‘KB’, as shown in Figure 3.

3. Metacenter (M):

Refer to the following figure to understand that when a ship heels to any angle, a portion of the lower
side of the ship is now submerged, and a portion of the hull from the upper side emerges out of the
water. This can be noticed by visualizing the hull when the waterline was WL (without heel), and when
the waterline was changed to W1L1 (after heel).

Figure 4: Transverse metacenter of a ship.

NA 2: Ship Hydrostatics Introduction to Ship Hydrostatics Week No. 1 Handout

 STI Academic Center
P. Sanchez Street corner Pat Antonio
Street Sta. Mesa Manila, 1035 Metro Manila

Due to this shift of submerged volume, there is a shift of the center of buoyancy from the centerline to
the side that is lower after the heel. The new position of center of buoyancy is illustrated as B1. If a
vertical line is extended from the new center of buoyancy, then the point at which this line meets the
centerline of the ship, is called the transverse metacenter (shown as ‘M’) of the ship.

4. Center of Floatation (LCF):

When the ship floats at a particular draft, any trimming moment acting on the ship would act about a
particular point on the water plane. This point is the centroid of the area of the water plane and is called
the center of the floatation. The distance of the center of floatation is read with respect to either of the
perpendiculars or the mid-ship and is abbreviated as LCF.

5. Metacentric Radius (BM):

The metacentric radius of a ship is the vertical distance between its center of buoyancy and metacenter
(refer to figure 3 or 4). This parameter can be visualized as the length of the string of a swinging
pendulum of the center of gravity of the pendulum coincides the center of buoyancy of the ship. In
other words, the ship behaves as a pendulum swinging about its metacenter. It is a different fact that,
the metacenter of the ship changes itself, every moment. Why? Because with every angle of heel, the
transverse shift in center of buoyancy (as shown in Figure 4) will vary, therefore creating a new
metacenter.

The importance of this parameter can be realized when the mathematical expression of metacentric
radius is investigated.

Now, what is the transverse moment of inertia of water plane? Refer to the figure below. A ship floating
at a particular draft (T), has a unique water plane. When the ship rolls in the condition, if one looks from
the top, the entire water plane area seems to oscillate about its longitudinal centroidal axis (shown in
blue). The area moment of inertia of this waterplane area about its centroidal axis is the transverse
moment of inertia of waterplane at the corresponding draft.

In the later part of this discussion, we will see the vital role this parameter plays in the stability of a
surface ship, and how it also determines a lot of design decisions.

NA 2: Ship Hydrostatics Introduction to Ship Hydrostatics Week No. 1 Handout

 STI Academic Center
P. Sanchez Street corner Pat Antonio
Street Sta. Mesa Manila, 1035 Metro Manila

Figure 5: Water plane at a particular draft, and its centroidal axis.

6. Metacentric Height (GM):

The vertical distance from the center of gravity to the metacenter is called the metacentric height. You
will come across this term numerous times in this lesson, and a designer is probably most concerned
about this parameter during the entire design process. IMO Codes of Stability for Ships have laid stability
criteria for ships that are mostly based on this parameter.

The value of GM needs to be obtained at various stages, right from initial design stage, to hull design
stage, during stability analysis of a newly designed hull, after the construction of a ship, and during
operations at sea. The methods used in these stages are different from each other, because:

• At each stage, the purpose behind the evaluation of GM differs.

• The known parameters required to evaluate the GM also vary at each stage.

For now, given the fact that we know the parameters: BM, KB, and KG, let’s just appreciate the most
basic formula used to evaluate the metacentric height of a ship: (refer to figure 3 for visual assistance)

NA 2: Ship Hydrostatics Introduction to Ship Hydrostatics Week No. 1 Handout

 STI Academic Center
P. Sanchez Street corner Pat Antonio
Street Sta. Mesa Manila, 1035 Metro Manila

7. Moment to Change Trim by 1 Centimeter (MCT):

For a particular draft, it is the longitudinal moment (about the LCF) required to bring about a trim of 1
centimeter. This parameter plays vital role especially when the crew on board requires to load cargo in
any one hold or ballast, or de-ballast, and predict the resultant trim caused by the action. MCT is a very
important hydrostatic parameter required by stability analysis softwares and crew operations.

8. Tonnes per Centimeter Immersion (TPC):

For a particular draft the weight required to be added onto the ship so as to cause a parallel sinkage of 1
centimeter, is expressed as the TPC. This, similar to MCT, is used extensively by the crew to predict the
new drafts after any operation that involves addition or removal of weights from the ship. Following is
the expression used to evaluate the TPC of a ship at any given draft:

The above expressions give us some important results:

• TPC of a ship floating in water of uniform density, depends solely on the area of waterplane.
• The parallel sinkage resulting from a particular loading in fresh water would be more if the same
loading was done in sea water.
• The crew must recalculate the predicted new drafts after loading or unloading when the ship
moves from fresh water to sea or vice versa, to avoid unexpected observations.

Hydrostatic Curves

All the hydrostatic parameters are calculated by a stability analysis software and plotted on a graph
against different drafts. This graph is collectively called hydrostatic curves, and the same for a 200
passenger ship is shown below.

NA 2: Ship Hydrostatics Introduction to Ship Hydrostatics Week No. 1 Handout

 STI Academic Center
P. Sanchez Street corner Pat Antonio
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Figure 6: Hydrostatic curves for a 200 pax passenger ship.

NA 2: Ship Hydrostatics Introduction to Ship Hydrostatics Week No. 1 Handout

 STI Academic Center
P. Sanchez Street corner Pat Antonio
Street Sta. Mesa Manila, 1035 Metro Manila

This graph is used by the crew on-board to instantly obtain the value of a hydrostatic parameter of the
ship for a given draft. However, one needs to be careful about the multi-scale horizontal axis that is used
here, since multiple parameters with different units are plotted on the same graph.

Some important observations can be made by studying the nature of hydrostatic curves, and they are
discussed below:

• The only hydrostatic parameters that decrease with increase in draft are height of metacenter
from the keel (KM), and longitudinal center of buoyancy (LCB). Remember, here, the LCB is
calculated from the forward perpendicular (read horizontal axis in the graph), which means, a
decreasing LCB with increasing draft implies, the LCB moves forward with increase in draft. But
let us study this further. Does it hold true for all ships? While, the nature of KM is mostly the
same, the nature of change of LCB with draft will vary according to the form of the hull. The
above graph was for a passenger ship with a fine stern, as shown in the following figure.

Figure 7: Hull form with fine stern.

A fine stern means, with increase in draft, the percentage of submerged volume towards the forward of
the midship increases more rapidly than the submerged volume in the aft. Hence, at larger drafts, a
majority of the submerged volume will be concentrated towards the forward of the midship.

If this would have been a ship with finer bow and fuller stern, an increase in draft would have caused the
LCB to shift towards the aft, thereby showing opposite nature on the hydrostatic curve. A ship designer
can therefore predict the hull form of a ship just by looking at its LCB curve.

The MCT of all surface ships usually increase with increase in draft. Which means, a surface ship is very
sensitive to trimming moments while floating in low draft conditions.

8. Curves of Form:

The various parameters of form (Block coefficient- CB, Prismatic Coefficient- CP, Water plane area
coefficient- CWP, and Midship area coefficient CM) are also calculated and plotted in a graph against
different drafts, as shown in the figure below.

NA 2: Ship Hydrostatics Introduction to Ship Hydrostatics Week No. 1 Handout

 STI Academic Center
P. Sanchez Street corner Pat Antonio
Street Sta. Mesa Manila, 1035 Metro Manila

Figure 8: Curves of form.

Though these parameters are not important for the crew, they play important role in optimizing the hull
shape, and fairing the hull to a fine shape. If you notice the nature of the curves in the figure, the curves
are not smooth. This implies that the hull at this stage of design, is not completely smooth, and would
result in increased resistance. The same also applies to all the hydrostatic curves. Both these curves,
along with the sectional area curve of a ship are simultaneously referred to, at each stage of hull
modification, until a smooth set of curves are obtained.

Reference:

Chakraborty, Soumya. (February 2022). Ship Stability – Introduction to Hydrostatics and Stability of
Surface Ships. Retrieved February 12, 2022 from, https://www.marineinsight.com/naval-
architecture/ship-stability-introduction-hydrostatics-stability-surface-
ships/#:~:text=Ship%20Hydrostatics%3A,parameters%2C%20are%20called%20ship%20hydrostatics.

NA 2: Ship Hydrostatics Introduction to Ship Hydrostatics Week No. 1 Handout