Ship Building Design Class 2020

Hydrostatic Curves
Achmad Yasir Baeda (Dr.Eng.)
Laboratorium Teknologi Kelautan
Universitas Hasanuddin
Marine Disasters and Weather Anomalies Research Laboratory (MDWA)
Center of Technology, FoE – Universitas Hasanuddin
The Definition
Ship Hydrostatic: 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.
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
The Curves
List of Curves:
• 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)
The Center of Gravity
The longitudinal position of the CG
with respect to any reference point
on the ship is called the longitudinal
center of gravity (LCG). 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 center of gravity is
expressed as ‘KG’
The Center of Buoyancy
The longitudinal position of the
center of buoyancy with respect to
any reference point on the ship is
called the longitudinal center of
buoyancy (LCB). Usually, the
reference point for locating the LCB
is either of the forward or aft
perpendiculars.
The vertical distance (along the
ship’s centerline) between the keel
and the center of buoyancy is
expressed as ‘KB’
The Metacenter
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).
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.
The Metacenter (continued)
The Metacenter (continued)
The Metacentric Radius (BM)
The metacentric radius of a ship is the vertical
distance between its center of buoyancy and
metacenter. 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, 𝐼𝑇 𝐿𝐵3 𝐵2
12
the transverse shift in center of buoyancy will 𝐵𝑀𝑇 = = =
𝛻 𝐿.𝐵.𝑇 12.𝑇
vary, therefore creating a new metacenter.
The Metacentric Height (GM)
The vertical distance from the center of gravity to the
metacenter is called the metacentric height. 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
𝐺𝑀 = 𝐾𝐵 + 𝐵𝑀 − 𝐾𝐺
The Law of Floatation
The Center of Floatation
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 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.
 The MTC
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. Since the expression of this parameter does not play any significant
role in understanding the concepts of ship stability, we will skip it. But do remember that,
MCT is a very important hydrostatic parameter required by stability analysis software and
crew operations.
The 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:

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.
The Form Coefficients
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 in the right side.
 Next . . . .

Ship Building Design Class 2020

Bonjean & Simpson

Achmad Yasir Baeda (Dr.Eng.)
Laboratorium Teknologi Kelautan
Universitas Hasanuddin
Marine Disasters and Weather Anomalies Research Laboratory (MDWA)
Center of Technology, FoE – Universitas Hasanuddin