CHAPTER 5

THE LAWS OF BUOYANCY AND INITIAL STABILITY

A basic requirement for any ship is that it must have sufficient buoyancy to support the weight of the
ship. However, as will be shown in the following sections, this may not be sufficient for a static
equilibrium. Therefore, ships must satisfy not only the buoyancy condition but also a static
equilibrium condition.

5.1. The Laws of Buoyancy

The well known Archimedess principle states that a body immersed in a fluid is subject to an upward
vertical force equal to the weight of the displaced fluid. Consider a ship, as shown in Figure 5.1,
afloat in the water in static equilibrium. The integration of upward components of hydrostatic
pressures over the surface of the body, or the buoyant force is equal to the weight of the displaced
water (). This force must be exactly balanced by the gravitational force of the bodys mass (W),
directed downwards. The displacement weight of a ship can be calculated as follows

where, is the displacement volume, i.e. the underwater volume of the ship, and is the density of
water. The Archimedes principle requires that
W

W
G
B

W
G
B

ekil 5.1. Forces acting on a displacement vessel

5.2. Effect of Water Density on Flotation

5.1

Consider a ship moving from seawater into fresh water. It is well known that a ship floats at a deeper
draught in fresh water than it does in seawater. This is due to the fact that fresh water is less dense
than seawater, thus it requires a large volume of fresh water to produce the same buoyant force. The
ship will also trim in order to keep LCB and LCG in the same vertical line. In order to determine the
changes in draught when moving from seawater to fresh water we can use the tons per centimeter
immersion concept. Due to the changes in density a layer will immerse at the waterline level. This
layer may be approximated by a prism with the waterplane on its top and bottom as shown in Figure
5.1.

AWP

Figure 5.2. Effect of change in density of water.

The volume of the layer may be expressed as the difference between displacements in fresh water and
seawater or alternatively by the waterplane area multiplied by the parallel sinkage. Equating the two
equations
F S A WP t

Since the weight of the ship remains constant

F F S S

F S

S
F

Substituting into the above equation

5.3. Stability Reference Points

5.2

M
G

Keel (K) : The base line reference point from which all other reference point measurements are
compared.
Centre of Buoyancy (B) : The geometric centre of the ships underwater hull body. It is the point at
which all the forces of buoyancy may be considered to act in a vertically upward direction.
Centre of Gravity (G) : The point at which all forces of gravity acting on the ship can be considered
to act. The position of the centre of gravity depends upon the distribution of weights within the ship.
Metacentre (M) : The intersection of the lines of buoyant forces as the ship heels through small
angles of heel.

5.4. Linear Measurements in Stability

M
GM
G

BM

KM
KG

B
KB
K

KG : Height of the ships centre of gravity above the keel.

KM : Height of metacentre above the keel.
GM : Metacentric height (KM-KG or KB+BM-KG)
BM : Metacentric radius.
5.3

5.5. The Stability Triangle

M
G

When a ship is inclined, the centre of buoyancy shifts off centreline while the centre of gravity
remains in the same location. Since the forces of buoyancy and gravity are equal and act along
parallel lines, but in opposite directions, a rotation is developed. This is called a couple, two moments
acting simultaneously to produce rotation. This rotation returns the ship to where the forces of
buoyancy and gravity balance out.
The distance between the forces of buoyancy and gravity (GZ) is known as the ships righting arm.
The righting arm is a perpendicular line drawn from the centre of gravity to the point of intersection
of the force of buoyancy line. For small angles of heel (7-10 degrees) the value for the ships righting
arm (GZ) may be found by using trigonometry as follows.
M

GZ GM sin

For small angles of heel the sine function is almost linear. Therefore for small heel angles the ships
righting arm is directly proportional to the ships metacentric height, GM. Thus GM is an essential
measure of the ships initial stability.
GZ GM sin GM

5.6. Stability Conditions

In order to be at rest or in equilibrium, there must be no unbalanced forces or moments acting on the
ship. There are two main forces that maintain this equilibrium for a ship floating upright on the
5.4

surface of calm water: the weight and the displacement. When the ship is at rest, these forces act in
the same vertical line, in opposite directions. The weight acts at a point called the center of gravity
(G) where all the weights of the ship are assumed to be concentrated. This force always acts
vertically downward. The displacement acts through the center of buoyancy (B) which is the
geometric centroid of the underwater hull of the ship. This force always acts vertically upward.
When the ship is heeled by an external inclining force the shape of the underwater part of the ship is
changed and the centre of buoyancy is moves from the centreplane of the ship. This results in a
separation between the lines of action of the force of gravity and the force of displacement. This
forms a moment, due to the separation between two equal forces acting in opposite directions, whose
magnitude is equal to the product of weight (or displacement) and the distance separataing them.
When this moment tends to restore the ship to the upright position, as shown in Figure 5.3a, it is
called the righting moment. The perpendicular distance between the lines of action of weight and
displacement is called the righting arm (GZ). Since there is a positive righting moment the ship will be
in stable equilibrium.
The centre of gravity may be moved upward to such a position that, when the ship is heeled slightly,
the displacement force acts in a line through the centre of gravity, as shown in Figure 5.3b. Since the
distance between the lines of the action of the displacement and weight is zero, there will be zero
righting moment and the ship will be in neutral equilibrium.
By moving the centre of gravity further upward, as shown in Figure 5.3c, a negative moment
between the weight and displacement can be obtained. In this case the moment acts in the direction
that will cause the ship to incline further, and the ship will be in unstable equilibrium.

M
G

G,M

(a)

(b)
ekil 5.3. Stable, neutral and unstable equilibrium conditions

(c)

5.3. Curves of Buoyancy and Metacentre

As the ship is inclined through small angles of heel, the lines of buoyant force intersect at a point
called the metacentre. For small angles of heel the metacentre (M) is defined as the intersection of the
centreplane with the vertical line through the centre of buoyancy (B) of an inclined ship. So long as
the path of the centre of buoyancy for successive small angles of heel is a circular arc, it is clear that
all such buoyancy vectors will intersect at the point M, which is thus the centre of the circular path
traced by the centre of buoyancy as the ship heels through small angles. The radius of the circle is
BM, called the metacentric radius.
When the ship is in upright condition, the metacentre lies on the same line with the centres of gravity
(G) and buoyancy (B). The distance between G and M is called the metacentric height, which is
5.5

usually referred to simply as GM. The metacentric height is the key indicator of initial transverse
stability and is considered positive if G is below M, or negative if M is below G. If M is below G
(negative GM) the ship will tend to heel to a larger angle. This may result in a capsize. If G and M
happened to be coincident (which is a very rare case) the ship will be in neutral equilibrium.
The term metacentre is reserved for small inclinations. The movement of metacentre for a rectangular
barge is shown in Figure 5.4.

Figure 5.4. Movement of metacentre for a rectangular barge

The position of the metacentre is a function of the position of the centre of buoyancy, thus a function
of the displacement of the ship. The position of the metacentre moves down as the centre of
buoyancy moves up.
It is clear from Figure 5.3 that

When the metacentre is above the centre of gravity (GM>0) there is a positive righting moment
and the ship is in stable equilibrium.
When the metacentr and the centre of gravity coincide (GM=0), there is no righting moment and
the ship is in neutral equilibrium.
When the metacentre is below the centre of gravity (GM<0) there is a negative righting moment
and the ship is in unstable equilibrium.

5.3. Submerged Equilibrium

The KM of a surfaced submarine is equal to KB+BM where BM =I/. As the submarine submerge
the waterplane disappears, and the value of I, and hence BM is reduced to zero. The value of KM
becomes equal to KB, and B and M coincide. For a submerged submarine, the centre of buoyancy is
fixed and a given heeling moment produces nearly the same inclination in the longitudinal direction as
it does in the transverse direction. The vertical line through the centre of buoyancy in any inclined
condition will intersect at the centre of buoyancy, therefore the centre of buoyancy is both the
transverse and longitudinal metacentre.

5.6

Upright Position

G1

G1

Heeling Moment
W x GG1 = w x d

Final Position

Figure 5.5. Transverse stability of a submarine

B
G

B
w

Initial position

G1

Trimming moment
W x GG1 = w x d

G1

Final position

Figure 5.6. Longitudinal stability of a submarine

5.7