STABILITY OF FLOATING BODIES

Introduction:

The question of stability of a body such as ship, which floats in the surface of a liquid, is one of obvious
importance. Whether the equilibrium is unstable is determined by the height of its gravity, and in this
experiment the stability of a pontoon may be determined with its center of gravity at various heights. A
comparison with calculated stability may also be made.

Description of apparatus:

The arrangement of apparatus is shown in the fig. A pontoon of rectangular form floats in water and
carries a plastic sail, with five rows of V-slots equispaced heights on the sail. The slots centers are spaced
at 7.5mm intervals, equally disposed about the sail center line. An adjustable jockey weight, consisting
of two machined cylinders which can be screwed together, fits into the V-slots on the sail; this can be
used to change the height of the center of gravity and the angle of list of the pontoon. A plumb bob is
suspended from the top center of the sail and is used in conjunction with the scale fitted below the base
of the sail to measure the angle of list.

Theory of Stability of a Floating Body: x

M
G
G
G1 ∂x
L
B
B B1

x D

(a) (b) (c)

Consider the rectangular pontoon shown floating in equilibrium on an even keel, as shown in the cross
section of Figure. 2(a). The weight of the floating body acts vertically downwards through its centre of
gravity G and this is balanced by an equal and opposite buoyancy force acting upwards through the
centre of buoyancy B, which lies at the centre of gravity of the liquid displaced by the pontoon.

To investigate the stability of the system, consider a small angular displacement . ∂ θ from the
equilibrium position as shown on Figure 2(b).The centre of gravity of the liquid displaced by the pontoon
shifts from B to B₁. The vertical line of action of the buoyant force is shown on the figure and intersects
the extension of line BG at M, the metacentre.

The equal and opposite forces through G and B1, exert a couple on the pontoon, and provided that M
lies above G (as shown in Figure 2(b)) this couple acts in the sense of restoring the pontoon to even keel,
i.e. the pontoon is stable. If however, the metacentre M lies below the centre of gravity G, the sense of
the couple is to increase the angular displacement and the pontoon is unstable. The special case of
neutral stability occurs when M and G coincide.

Figure 2(b) shows clearly how the metacentric height GM may be established experimentally using the
adjustable weight (of mass ω ) to displace the centre of gravity sideways from G. Suppose the adjustable
weight is moved a distance ∂ x from its central position. If the weight of the whole floating assembly is
W, then the corresponding movement of the centre of gravity of the whole in a direction parallel to the
ω
base of the pontoon is ∂ x 1 ,. If this movement produces a new equilibrium position at an angle of
W
list .∂ θ , then in Figure 2(b), G, is the new position of the centre of gravity of the whole, i.e

ω
GG₁ = ∂ x1 (1)
W
Now, from the geometry of the figure:
GG₂ = GM.∂ θ (2)
Eliminating GG, between these equations we derive:
ω ∂x 1
GM = . (3)
W ∂θ
or in the limit:
ω ∂x 1
GM = . (4)
W ∂θ
∂x 1
The matacentric height may thus be determined by measuring knowing and W. Quite apart from
∂θ
experimental determinations, BM may be calculated from the mensuration of the pontoon and the
volume of liquid which it displaces. Referring again to Figure 2(b), it may be noted that the restoring
moment about B, due to shift of the centre of buoyancy to B₁, is produced by additional buoyancy
represented by triangle AA1 C to one side of the centre line, and reduced buoyancy represented by
triangle FF1C to the other. The element shaded in Figure 2(b) and (c) has and area ∂ s in plan view and a
height x∂ θ in vertical section, so that its volume is x ∂ θ ∂ s . The weight of liquid displaced by this
element is wx∂ θ ∂ s , where w is the specific weight of the liquid, and this is the additional buoyancy due
to the element. The moment this elementary buoyancy force about B is wx x ∂ θ ∂ s , so that the total
restoring moment about B is given by the expression:
w∂ θ∫ x ds
2

where the integral extends over the whole areas of the pontoon at the plane of the water surface. The
integral may be referred to as I, where:
I = ∫ x ds
2
(5)
the second moment of area of s about the axis XX.

The total restoring moment about may also be written as the total buoyancy force, wV, in which V is the
volume of liquid displaced by the pontoon, multiplied by the lever arm BB₁. Equating this product to the
expression for total restoring moment derived above:

wV . BB1 = w∂ θ ∫ x ds
2

Substituting from Equation 5 for the integral and using the expression:
BB1 = BM – ∂ θ (6)
which follows from the geometry of Figure 2(b), leads to:
BM = I/V (7)

This result, which depends only on the mensuration of the pontoon and the volume of liquid which it
displaces, will be used to check the accuracy of the experiment. It applies to a floating body of any
shape, provided that I is taken about an axis through the centroid of the area of the body at the plane of
the water surface, the axis being perpendicular to the place in which angular displacement takes place.
For a rectangular pontoon, B lies at a depth below the water surface equal to half the total depth of
immersion, and I may readily be evaluated in terms of the dimensions of the pontoon as:
D /2
1 3
I = ∫ x ² ds = ∫ x ² Ldx =
12
LD (8)
−D / 2

Observation Table-
W = 2.620kg
w = 0.390kg

Deck x θR θL θ AVG GM
II 7.5 1.5 1 1.25 51.19
15 2.5 2.5 2.5 51.19
22.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 54.79
30 5.5 5 5.25 48.62
37.5 6.5 6 6.25 51.19
45 7.5 7 7.25 52.72
III 7.5 1.5 2 1.75 37.2
15 3.5 3.5 3.5 36.53
22.5 5 5 5 38.26
30 6.5 6.5 6.5 39.19
37.5 7.5 8 7.75 40.99
Graphs to be plotted-
1. X vs θ for both the decks-

5
Theta

0
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
x

2. X vs GM for both the decks-

50

40

30 Deck1
GM

Polynomial (Deck1)
Deck 2
20
Polynomial (Deck 2)

10

0
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
x

3. θ vs GM

60

50

40

30 deck1
GM

Polynomial (deck1)
deck2
20
Polynomial (deck2)

10

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Theta

Discussion of Results:
This experiment was performed to check the stability of a floating body. There were three graph drawn
between position of jockey weight (x) & angle of tilt, position of jockey weight & W tanθ and position of
jockey weight & metacentric height. There is a linear relationship between first two graphs. It is also
observed that on extending a straight line towards origin, we can see that it doesn't pass through the
origin due to the fact that there are some systematic errors. It has also been observed that graph shows
positive readings when weight is moved to the right side. On observing graph 3, it is clear that
metacentric height depends upon the height of CG of the deck from it, GM doesn't vary if the deck
height remains constant. The results of this experiment can be improved by improving the devices used
and the conditions of the environment that the experiment was performed in, like using different
shapes of the pontoon, using a more accurate one with perfect weight distribution, and using a more
accurate tilt needle.

In conclusion
1. In the first graph x vs , there came a straight line which shows angle of tilt is directly proportional to
the displacement. It also verifies with the theoretical results.
2. In the second graph i.e. x vs GM, the relationship shows that metacentric height GM directly depends
on displacement x.
3. The third graph plotted is θ vs GM, the relationship shows that metacentric height GM depends
inversely on θ .

Sources of Error: Experimental Error: The plumb-bob line may not be looped properly around the
scale. Parallax Error: Incorrect eye-level reading of the measurement on the steel ruler while measuring
height of the center of gravity.