Stability at Small Angles

Transverse Metacentric height

• Consider a symmetric ship heeled to a very small angle, δφ shown
in fig.
• The centre of buoyancy has moved off the ship’s centreline as the
result of the inclination, and the lines along which the resultants of
weight and buoyancy act are separated by a distance GZ, the
righting arm.
• A vertical line through the centre of buoyancy will intersect the
original vertical through the centre of buoyancy, which is in the
ship’s centreline plane, at a point M, called the transverse
metacentre.
• The location of this point will vary with the ship’s displacement and
trim, but, for any given draft, it will always be in the same place.
 

SHIP
• Unless there is an abrupt change in the shape of
the ship in the vicinity of the waterline, point M
will remain practically stationary with respect to
the ship as the ship is inclined to small angles, up
to about 7 or sometimes to 10deg.
• If the location of G and M are known, the righting
arm for small angles of heel can be readily
calculated, by formula
GZ  GM sin 
• The distance GM is therefore important as an
index of transverse stability at small angles of
heel and it is called the transverse metacentric
height.
• GZ is considered positive when the moment of
weight and buoyancy tends to rotate the ship
toward the upright position, GM is positive when
M is above G and negative when M is below G.
• Metacentric Height (GM) is often used as an
index of stability when preparation of stability
curves for large angles has not been made.
• Its use is based on the assumption that adequate
GM, in conjunction with adequate freeboard, will
assure that adequate righting moments will exist
at both small and large angles of heel.
• When a ship is inclined
to a small angle, as in
Fig., the new waterline
will intersect the 
original waterline at the
ship’s centreline plane if
the ship is wall-sided in
the vicinity of the
waterline.
• Since the volumes of
the two wedges
between the two 
waterlines will then be
equal, and there will be
no change in
displacement.
• If v is the volume of each wedge, the volume
of displacement and the centres of gravity of the
wedges are at g1 and g2, the ship’s centre of
buoyancy will move:
– in a direction parallel to a line connecting g1 and g2
– A distance BB1 equal to
v. g g  
1 2

From triangle BB1M, we may say BB1 v . g1 g 2

BM  
tan   tan 
– If y is the half-breadth of the waterline at any point of
the ship’s length at a distance x from one end and if
ship’s length is designated as L, then area of the section
through the wedge is
1
 y   y tan  
2
• Its centroid is at a distance of 2  2 y
3
from the centroid of corresponding section on
other side.
 2 
L
1
v . g1 g 2    y   y tan    2. y  d x
0
2  3 
Transverse moment of inertia of the entire water plane (both
sides of C.L.) about the ship’s centreline (about the longitudinal
axis) is

L
v . g1 g 2 IT
IT 
2
0 y d x  tan 
3
BM 
3 

GM  K M  KG
 K B  BM  KG

The righting moment at small angles of heel can be written

as
Δ. GZ = W.GMT. SinΦ
 Stability of Submerged Bodies
• When a submarine is submerged, the centre of buoyancy is
stationary with respect to the ship at any inclination.
• The KM of a surfaced submarine is equal to KB plus BM, or KB
plus I/V.
• As the ship submerges, the water plane disappears, and the
value of I, and hence BM is reduced to zero.
• The value of KM becomes KB plus zero and B & M coincide.
• The metacentric height of a submerged submarine is usually
called GB rather than GM.
• GB is positive if B is above G & GB is negative if B is below G.
• Thus the height of centre of gravity, KG, is of vital importance
to transverse stability for floating and submerged bodies.
 Longitudinal Metacentric Height
• The longitudinal metacentre is similar to the transverse
metacentre except that it involves longitudinal inclinations.
• Since ships are usually not symmetrical forward and aft, the
centre of buoyancy at various even-keel waterlines does not
always lie in a fixed transverse plane, but may move forward
and aft with changes in draft.
• For a given even-keel waterline, the longitudinal metacentre is
defined as the intersection of a vertical line through the
centre of buoyancy in the even-keel attitude with a vertical
line through the new position of the centre of buoyancy after
the ship has been inclined longitudinally through a small
angle.

• The longitudinal metacentre, like the transverse metacentre,
is substantially fixed with respect to the ship for moderate
angles of inclination if there is no abrupt change in the shape
of the ship in the vicinity of the waterline.
• Distance between the ship’s centre of gravity & longitudinal
metacentre is the longitudinal metacentric height, which is an
index of the ship’s resistance to changes in trim.
• For a ship, the longitudinal metacentre is always far above the
centre of gravity, and the longitudinal metacentric height is
always positive.
• Since the hull form is usually not symmetrical in the fore and
aft direction, the immersed wedge and the emerged wedge
usually do not have the same shape., but to maintain the
same displacement, however, they must have the same
volume.
• Fig. shows a ship inclined longitudinally from an even-keel
water line WL, through a small angle δθ to waterline W1L1, let
the intersection of these two waterlines be point F and
L = length of waterplane
Q = distance from F to the forward end of waterplane
y = breadth of waterline WL at any distance x from F
The volume of forward wedge is
Q

v  y   x tan   dx
0

The volume of after wedge is

LQ

v    y   x tan   d x
0

LQ
Equating the volumes Q

 x y dx  
0 0
xydx
• These expressions show respectively, the moment of the area
of the water plane forward of F and the moment of the area
aft of F, both moments being about a transverse line through
point F.
• Since these moments are equal and opposite, the moment of
the entire water plane about a transverse axis through F is
zero, and the transverse axis through F, the centroid of the
water plane is called the centre of flotation.
• In Fig. AB is a transverse vertical plane through the initial
position of the centre of buoyancy B, when the ship was
floating on the even-keel waterline WL.
• With longitudinal inclination, B will move parallel to g1g2.
• The height of metacentre above B will be,
BB1 v . g1 g 2
BM L  
tan   tan 
• The distance of g1, the centroid of the after wedge from F is
equal to the moment of the after wedge about F divided by
the volume of the wedge, and a similar formula applies to the
forward wedge.
• If the moments of the after and forward wedges are
designated as m1 and m2 respectively, then the distance
m1 m2 m1  m2
g1 g2   
v v v
v . g1 g2  m1  m2
Q Q

m1    y   x tan    x  dx  tan   x 2 y d x
0 0

LQ

m2  tan  0
x2 y d x
• The integrals in the expressions for m1 and m2 correspond to
the formula for the moment of inertia of an area about the
transverse axis through F.
• Therefore, the sum of the two integrals is the longitudinal
moment of inertia IL of the entire water plane.

m1  m2  v . g1 g2  I L tan 

v . g1 g 2
IL 
tan 

v . g1 g 2 IL
BM L  
 tan  
IT about transverse axis through C.O.F
 Effect of Trim on Metacentric Height

• The discussion and formulas for BM, KM and GM all assumed that
the waterline at each station was the same, namely, no trim
existed.
• In cases, where substantial trim exists or when there is substantial
change in water plane shape at normal trim, values for BM, KM and
GM will be substantially different from those calculated for the zero
trim situations.
• It is important to calculate metacentric values for various trim
conditions.
• It may be difficult to do this manually, but if the calculations are
carried out using a high speed computer, the exact stability
parameters for various trim conditions can be estimated.
 Effect of Heel on Metacentre
• Metacentre is essentially the point of intersection of the vertical
line through centre of gravity G and the vertical through centre
of buoyancy in the new position at a small angle of inclination.
• In fig. M1 is the metacentre in upright condition, B1M1 being
perpendicular to waterline W1L1 at a small inclination δΦ.
• As the angle of inclination Φ increases the water plane area and
the transverse moment of inertia IT increases and so does the
metacentric radius giving a new metacentre at M2.
• But at a certain angle of inclination, the water plane suddenly
reduces either due to deck edge immersion or keel emergence.
The metacentric radius BM reduces.
• The nature of the locus of M with angle of heel shown in fig,


 Application of Metacentric height

• Moment to heel one degree: This is the moment

required by external forces to heel the vessel by one
degree
We know, Δ. GZ = W.GMT. SinΦ

• Within the range of inclinations where metacentre is

stationary, the change in the angle of heel produced
by a given external moment can be found by dividing
the moment by the moment to heel one degree.
Moment to change Trim 1cm (MCT 1cm):
• Moment to trim one degree = ∆GM sin (1 deg),
where GM is the longitudinal metacentric height.
• The expression is converted to moment to change
trim one cm by substituting one cm divided by the
length of the ship in cm for sin (1 deg) ≈ tan (1 deg).

 GM L
MCT 1cm  t m
100 L
• As a practical matter, GM is usually so large
compared to GB that only a negligible error would be
introduced if BM were substituted for GM.
• Then I/ may be substituted for BM, where I is the
moment of inertia of the water plane about a
transverse axis through its centroid, and ∆ = ρ ,
where ρ is density. Then, moment to trim one cm:
IL 1  IL
M CT 1cm      
 100 L 100 L
• Since the value of this function depends only on the
size and shape of the water plane, it is usually
calculated together with the displacement and other
curves, before the location of G is known.
Period of Roll:
• The period of roll in still water, if not influenced by
damping effects, is
const.  k CB
Period  
GM GM

where k is the radius of gyration of the ship about a

fore-and-aft axis through its centre of gravity.
The factor “const. x k ” is often replaced by C x B,
where C is a constant obtained from observed data
for different types of ships.
• If a ship with a beam of 15.24 m and a GM of 1.22m
has a roll period of 10.5 seconds, then

• If another ship of same type has a beam of 13.72m

and a GM of 1.52m, the period of roll can be
estimated as,
• The variation of the value of C for ships of different types is
not large; a reasonably close estimate can be made if 0.80 is
used for surface types and 0.67 is used for submarines.
• In almost all cases, values of C for conventional,
homogeneously loaded surface ships are between 0.72 and
0.91.
• This formula is useful also for estimating GM when the period
of roll has been observed.
• A snappy, short-period of roll may be interpreted as that a
ship has moderate to high stability – stiff ship.
• While a sluggish, long-period of roll may be interpreted as an
indication of lesser stability – tender ship.
• Metacentric height along with the freeboard is reasonably a
good measure of a ship’s stability.
• Little effort may be required to capsize a ship with large GM
but with small freeboard.
 Suitable Metacentric height

• It should meet the following requirements in all

loading conditions:
– It should be large enough in passenger ships to prevent
capsizing or an excessive list in case of flooding a portion
of a ship during an accident.
– It should be large enough to prevent listing to unpleasant
or dangerous angles in case of all passengers crowd to one
side.
– It should be large enough to minimize the possibility of a
serious list under pressure from strong beam winds.
 Large Angle Stability
Wall-sided formula:
• At large angle of heel, the
centre of buoyancy has moved
further out to the low side, and
the vertical through B1 no
longer passes through (M), the
initial metacenter.
• As inclination increases, there
will be an upward shift of
buoyancy, as well as lateral
shift.

Moment = W x GZ, but GZ ≠ GM

sinϴ
𝐵1 𝐵2 × 𝑉 = 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑤𝑒𝑑𝑔𝑒𝑠
 Cross Curves of Stability
• Ships are generally not wall sided and therefore the wall-sided
formula is rarely used in practice except in cases of rectangular hull
forms.
• It is also limited to angles within deck edge immersion or keel
coming out of water.
• To determine the moment to restore the ship to the upright
position at large angles of heel, it is necessary to know the distance,
GZ, referred as the statical stability lever or the righting arm.
• It is difficult to determine the GZ value for a vessel at any operating
displacement at any angle of heel whenever required.
• Therefore this distance could be calculated from some standard
reference point on ship centre line plotted as a set of curves, one
for each angle of heel varying with displacement.
• Such a set of curves are generally referred as Cross curves of
stability.
• One could take the standard
reference, as point O or the point at
intersection of keel and ship centre
line, K as shown in fig.
GZ = a – OG.sinΦ

Or  
GZ = KN – KG.sinΦ
• GZ consists of two parts: KN or ‘a’ O
and the height of G above base or
KG.
• The first part can be calculated
without any reference to weight
distribution, if the geometry of
the ship form is known. This part
of stability is normally referred
as Form Stability.
 • The second part is known as Weight Stability.
• Below fig. shows a typical diagram of cross curves of stability.
3

2.7 50° KN
40° KN 60° KN

2.4 70° KN
30° KN

80° KN
2.1
KN m

90° KN
1.8 20° KN

1.5

1.2
10° KN

0.9

0.6
10 30 50 70 90 110 130 150 170 190 210
Displacement Tonne
• KN calculation essentially involves estimation of volume of
displacement and the three co-ordinates of centre of buoyancy –
LCB, VCB and TCB.
• Assuming there is no trim in any heeled condition; LCB need not be
calculated since it will not alter with heel.
• If an inclined water line at an angle Φ is drawn on the body plan of
a ship, at each section, sectional area and its moments about base
and centre line can be estimated.
• Then these values at each section can be integrated along the
length of the ship to get the total volume of displacement and the
VCB and TCB.
• The KN values calculated at initial no-trim condition will change if
there is an initial trim.
• The initial trim would depend on loading condition.
• It may be necessary to estimate cross curves of stability
corresponding to various initial trimmed water lines.
• This estimation becomes easy and accurate if computer based
numerical computation is carried out.
• In some cases, the C.G of
the ship will be off the
ship’s centerline as shown
in fig.
• As G moves off a distance
b, measured perpendicular
to the centerline, to G1, the
righting arm will be
decreased by the value
bcosφ.
 Statical Stability Lever GZ & its curve

• The statical stability curve is a plot of righting arm or righting

moment against angle of heel for a given condition of loading.
• For any ship, the shape of this curve will vary with the
displacement, the vertical and transverse position of the
centre of gravity, the trim, and the effect of free liquids.
• These values of the righting arm, plotted against angle of heel,
form the statical stability curve, shown in Fig.
• This figure illustrates the two cases, in which the centre of
gravity is not on the ship’s centreline (creating an initial list),
and another case, in which the centre of gravity is on, or very
near, the centreline.
• The curve of righting arms may be converted to a curve of
righting moments by multiplying the ordinates by the ship’s
displacement.
EQUILIB. ANGLE
RIGHTING ARM, m

RIGHTING ARM, m

ANGLE OF INCLINATION ANGLE OF INCLINATION

 Features of GZ-Curve
• The slope of the GZ curve at zero
degrees is the initial metacentric
height GM.
• As discussed, the righting arm for
small angles of heel is GZ =GMT.sinΦ
• The slope of the curve at origin is
GM.sinφ/φ, and sinφ approaches φ
(one radian) at smaller angles,
hence the slope is metacentric
height(at one radian).
• Therefore, the value of the ordinate
of the tangent to the GZ curve at
the origin at an angle of 1 radian or
57.30 is the initial metacentric
height GMT.
• The range of stability is indicated by the angle range between which the righting
arm is positive.
• Angle of deck edge immersion is normally at the point of inflexion/inflection of
the GZ curve. Though, the deck edge along the length of the ship gets immersed
at different angles, normally it is within a small range and is well indicated by the
point of inflexion of the GZ curve.
• The ship being symmetrical port and starboard, the stability
lever curve is symmetrical about the x & y- axis.
• If initial metacentric height is negative, the vessel may
experience a sudden heel after which it may be stable at
certain angle of heel. This angle is called angle of loll.

CURVE
ANGLE OF LOLL

1 1 RAD

NAGATIVE
 Dynamic Stability
• The righting moment curve can be
used to determine the work involved
in causing the ship to heel from one
angle to another angle.
• The area under any portion of a

RIGHTING MOMENT
curve of righting moment, such as
the shaded area in Fig. represents
the work required to heel the ship
from angle A to angle B. ANGLE OF INCLINATION

• The work required to rotate it from A

to B is B
Work   M d
A

which is the area under the curve between A & B

• The total area between the righting-moment curve (at zero
degrees to angle D) and the horizontal axis represents the total
work required to capsize the ship from the upright position. This is
often referred as a measure of dynamic stability.
• One can also say that the total area under the curve from A to B in
fig, which represents the work done in heeling the ship from A to
B, is the potential energy EB acquired by the ship at B.
• If all external heeling moments
are then released, this energy
will bring the ship back to the

RIGHTING MOMENT
upright, zero-heel condition.
• But at this point the potential
energy will have been
transformed into kinetic energy 
equal to EB minus energy loss ANGLE OF INCLINATION

(i.e, energy expended in AREA = E - LOSSES B

overcoming the resistance of the

water due to rolling).
• This kinetic energy (proportional to the square of angular
velocity) will carry it to an angle from the upright position,
that is equal to the ship’s kinetic energy at zero inclination
minus the energy absorbed by the resistance of the water.
• If the heeling moments developed by the heeling forces are
calculated for several angles of inclination, these moments
may be plotted on the same coordinates as the statical
stability curve, as illustrated in Fig

RIGHTING MOMENT

HEELING MOMENT

ANGLE OF INCLINATION
• At points A and B in Fig. the heeling moment equals the
righting moment and the forces are in equilibrium.
• If the ship is heeled to point A, an inclination in either
direction will generate a moment tending to restore the ship
to position A.
• If the ship is heeled to point B, a slight inclination in either
direction will produce a moment tending to move the ship
away from position B, and the ship will either come to rest in
position A/B or capsize.
• The range of positive stability is decreased by the effect of the
heeling moment to point B.
• The vertical distance between the heeling-moment and
righting-moment curves at any angle represents the net
moment acting at that angle either to heel or right the ship.
• Coming now to energy considerations, assume that the ship
has rolled to the left to angle C in Fig., has come to rest, and is
about to roll in the opposite direction.
• Between C & A, the shaded area, minus the energy absorbed
by water resistance, corresponds to the kinetic energy at
point A.
• This energy will carry the ship to some angle D, such that the
area between the curves and between A & D is equivalent to
the kinetic energy at point A, less the energy absorbed by the
water between A & D.
• If there is not sufficient area between the curves and between
A & B to absorb this energy, the ship will roll past point B and
capsize.
• To reduce the danger of capsizing under these conditions, the
area between the heeling and righting-moment curves and
between A & B should be greater, by some margin, than that
between C & A.
• Heeling moment can be caused due to various external forces
on the ship. Some of the common ones are given below:
– Effect of Beam Wind
– Effect of High Speed Turn
– Crowding of passengers to one side
– Grounding
 SOLAS requirement
• The international Maritime Organisation (IMO) has formulated rules
(SOLAS) for ensuring adequate stability for ships during operation.
• The main requirements of the GZ curve are as follows:
– The initial metacentric height GM should not be less than 0.15 m
– The righting lever GZ should be at least 0.20 m at an angle of heel equal to
or greater than 30 degrees
– The maximum righting arm should occur at an angle of heel preferably
exceeding 300 but not less than 250
– The area under the righting lever curve (GZ curve) should not be less than
0.055 metre-radian up to ϴ = 300 angle of heel.
– The area under the righting lever curve should not be less than 0.09
metre-radian up to ϴ = 400 or the angle of flooding ϴi if this angle is less
than 400
– The area under the righting lever curve between the angles of heel of 300
& 400 or between 300 & ϴi (if this angle is less than 400), should not be less
than 0.03 metre-radian
– Severe wind and rolling criterion (weather criterion)
• It can be observed that, each of the above conditions can be
satisfied only up to a certain value of KG (VCG) and if the KG
value crosses this limit the condition would be violated.
• Fig. given below shows the limiting KGmax curves satisfying
various SOLAS conditions at various displacements for a
vessel.
• The limiting envelop of the curves, defines the maximum KG
value the ship should not cross at any operating condition at
that displacement.
 KG (max) AGAINST DISP
10.5

9.5
KG max

8.5

7.5

6.5
0 5000 10000 15000
Disp (m3)
Max Heel Max GZ Area 30
Area 40 Area 30-40 Weather
 Righting Arm of a Submerged Body

• Since the body is completely submerged, in the absence of

any water plane, BM must be zero so that B and M become
coincident.
• If the body is inclined through an angle Φ, the moment acting
on it is given by Δ. BG. sin Φ
• The moment will try to bring the body to upright position if B
is above G. This is the condition of stable equilibrium.
• The righting arm follows a sine curve where GZ = BG. sin Φ
• Thus the stability lever curve is typical and is dependent on
the relative positions of B and G.
• To change the stability one has to change the CG only by
flooding or emptying tanks.
 
 Effect of free surface of liquids
on stability

Moment of statical stability = W x GZ

= W x GM x sin θ◦
 Effect of free surface of liquids
on stability
Now consider the same ship floating at the same draft
and having the same KG, but increase the depth of the
tank so that the liquid now only partially fills it
Effect of free surface of liquids
on stability
Moment of statical stability = W x G1Z1
= W x GvZv
= W x GvM x sin θ◦

This indicates that the effect of

the free surface is to reduce the
effective metacentric height
from GM to GvM. GGv is
therefore the virtual loss of GM
due to the free surface.
• FSE is independent of the quantity of liquid in the tank.
• GM corrected for free surface will be given as,
GMcor = KB + BM – (KG + FSE) = KB + BM – KG – FSE
• Free liquid on a ship acts in the fore-and-aft direction in the
same manner as in the transverse direction.
• For an intact ship with normal tankage, the effect of free liquid
on trim is so small that it may be ignored.
• The subdivision of large tanks into two or more smaller tanks
may be an effective method of improving stability by
suppressing the motion of free liquids.
 Grain Shifting Moment due to Carriage of Dry
Bulk cargo
• Bulk dry cargo, such as ore, coal or grain, may redistribute itself if
the ship rolls or heels to an inclination greater than the angle of
repose of the substance carried (angle of repose is the angle
between a horizontal plane and the cone slope obtained when bulk
cargo is freely poured onto this plane).
• Thus, a ship may start a voyage with the upper surface of such a
cargo horizontal and with the cargo evenly distributed throughout
the space.
• But, if the ship rolls sufficiently to cause a cargo shift, a list will
result.
• A ship which has listed due to even a slight shift of cargo is open to
the danger that it may later roll to increasing angles on the low side
with further shifting of the cargo. Ships have been known to capsize
from such progressive shifting of cargo.
• Furthermore, all cargoes are directly influenced by the
seaway-induced motions of the ship, which produce
significant angular and lateral accelerations.
• In a rapidly rolling ship, such cargoes may shift even when the
maximum angle of roll is less than the angle of repose of the
cargo, because of the dynamic effects of rolling.
• Calculations using motion dynamics show that the
accelerations involved in rolling produce a greater likelihood
of cargo shifting when the cargo is located above the ship’s
CG (as in ‘tween deck spaces) rather than below (in the hold).
• One design approach for ships intended to carry dry bulk
cargoes is to adjust hold volumes to suit the cargo density, so
that holds will normally be full when loaded.
• Small hatches and sloping sides at the top of the
compartment will reduce the danger of shifting cargo.
• For general cargo ships that may sometimes carry bulk cargo
it is essential to provide for fitting one or more longitudinal
subdivisions in the holds and ‘tween decks to minimize the
possibility of shift of cargo in heavy seas.
• Such temporary subdivision bulkheads are called shifting
boards.
• Grain has long been recognized as a dangerous cargo because
of its tendency to flow or shift in the hold of a rolling ship.
• New grain regulations were developed that changed
emphasis from attempting to prevent grain shifting to make
sure that the worst possible heeling moments will not exceed
acceptable limits for each ship and loading condition.
 Inclining Experiment
• This is a simple experiment which is carried out on the
completed ship to determine the metacentric height, the
weight of the ship and hence the vertical & longitudinal
coordinates of the centre of gravity of the ship.
• If the height of the centre of gravity of the empty ship is
known, it is possible to calculate its position for any given
condition of loading.
• It is therefore necessary to carry out the inclining experiment
on the empty ship.
• The inclining experiment consists of heeling the ship to a
small angle by moving a known weight, perpendicular to
ship’s centerline plane through a measured distance.
• The ship is allowed to settle until the righting moment adjusts
itself equal to heeling moment and measuring the angle of
inclination.
• This process is repeated at several angles in both directions.
 Stability of multi-body systems
• Due to their beam, multihulls have greater initial
stability than similar length mono-hulls and a greater
working deck space.
• They tend to have lower hydrodynamic resistance
than mono-hulls, and so require less fuel and power
or can operate at higher speeds.
• Multihulls have greater initial stability because the
inertia of the waterplane is much large than the
mono-hull. This increases BM and hence GM.
• As per parallel axes theorem, moment of inertia of an object about
any axis can be determined given the body’s moment of inertia (i.e.,
through its centroid) and the perpendicular distance between the
axes are known. 𝐼𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑒 𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑠 = 𝐼𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑖𝑑 + (𝐴 × 𝑑2 )
• The complication with multihulls is that the vessel has two
waterplanes and each waterplane rolls around the centerline of the
vessel.
• GM is find in the same way to a mono-hull.
• For multihulls, the inertia in the BM formula is the overall
transverse inertia of the two waterplanes measured at the vessels
centerline.
• The first step to determine the inertia of a single hull i.e., Icentroid.
• Then determine the distance between the two axes along with
waterplane area and apply parallel axes theorem.
• As both the hulls will be symmetric about the vessels centerline,
this value can be doubled to measure the overall tranverse inertia
of the complete waterplane.
• This value divided by total immersed volume will give a measure of
BM.
Effect of Change of Breadth on Stability

Effect of minor changes of ship parameters on ship stability can

be studied using difference equations. It is well known that

KB ∞ T or draught
BM ∞ B2 / (T.CB)
KG ∞ D or depth

Then, difference equations can be written as

δKB / KB = δT / T
δBM / BM = 2δB / B - δT / T - δCB / CB
δKG/ KG = δD / D
It can be observed that if there is an increase in breadth without changes
in other ship parameters including displacement, there will be a decrease
in draught causing a slight reduction in KB, but substantial increase in
BM. KG remaining constant, there is a net gain on GM or initial
metacentric height. Reserve buoyancy of the ship will increase due to
increase in breadth and also freeboard. Thus there will be an
improvement in GZ or the righting arm curve. Thus, the most important
parameter affecting stability is the breadth increase of which improves
stability to a large extent.
Effect of Change of Depth on Stability
If there is an increase in depth without changing the
under water body shape, BM and KB remain unchanged.
However, the steel weight increases and primarily, the steel
weight of the portion at and above the original depth go up by
an amount equal to the change in depth. This increases the KG
of the light ship. The cargo Cg also goes up due to increase in
cargo volume in the upward direction. Thus there is a net
increase in the KG of the loaded ship which can be
approximated to be proportional to Depth change as a first
approximation. Thus there is a reduction of GM or initial
metacentric height. This pulls down the GZ curve at small
angles. But as the angle of inclination increase the excess
reserve buoyancy due to increase in depth comes into play and
GZ increases. The deck edge immersion is delayed.
Effect of Change of Form
Keeping the displacement same, if the bilge radius is
increased, there will be an upward movement of under water
volume which will result in an increased load water plane
area. KB will go up and so will BM. Initial metacentric height
will improve. On the other hand, if the under water volume is
pushed down like a bulbous bow or reduction in bilge radius,
KB will reduce and so will BM, reducing the net initial
stability. Providing excess flare above water will lead to only
marginal increase in KG but, will increase reserve buoyancy
and hence, an improvement in the GZ curve. Addition of
water tight erections above deck will have similar effects.