2019

Damage Control and Stability

Stavros Kontostergios
Konstantinos Kalompiris
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Abstract

This is an assignment for the course of Damage Control issued by Professor Ph.D. Petar

Vankov. The purpose of this assignment is to present basic concepts and definitions but

also understand the importance of this subject. The authors of this draft are two young

engineers named Konstantinos Kalompiris and Stavros Kontostergios. This draft doesn’t

represent any scientific research and in any way it’s not an official scientific paper. It’s a

combined effort and a product of research. We have no responsibility for the accuracy of

these information.
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General

In order a ship to leave the shipyards, there are certain standards that must be followed.

These standards are issued by SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea). SOLAS is an

international maritime treaty which sets minimum safety standards in the construction,

equipment and operation of merchant ships. The convention requires signatory flag

states to ensure that ships flagged by them comply with at least these standards.

The first part contains the general concept of what is stability, characteristics etc. In

addition, we consider some cases relating to ship stability and causes for instability. At the

second part, we present definitions, approaches on damage stability and the methods of

calculating these damage assessments.

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Part I (Stability)

Ship Stability:

The only time a vessel can be assumed to be stationary and in upright position is when it

is in dry dock or before it is launched to the sea. Once in the sea, the ship needs to sustain

different environmental conditions, along with effects of various external and internal

changes.

A ship is always acted upon by several forces from factors such as seawater, wind, internal

mass weight, free surface effect etc. Thus, it is important for the vessel to always remain

stable and afloat in all conditions.

What is a stable ship?

Ship stability can be defined in simple terms as its characteristics or tendency to return to

its original state or upright state, when an external force is applied on or removed from

the ship. A ship is at equilibrium when the weight of the ship acting down through center

of gravity is equal to the up-thrust force of water acting through center of buoyancy and

when both forces are in same vertical line.

B is center of buoyancy and G is center of gravity

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A ship will come to its upright position or will become stable, when an external force is

applied and removed, if the center of gravity remains in the same position well below

metacentric height of the ship. When ship is inclined, center of buoyancy shifts from B to

B1, which creates a movement and the righting lever returns the ship to its original position

and makes it stable. A ship is seaworthy if it fulfills two important stability criteria Intact

and Damage stability.

M is metacenter and GZ is righting lever.

Requirements for Intact Stability of the Ship.

Intact stability

For a cargo vessel, the intact stability requirements are the following:

• Initial GM or metacentric height should not be less than 0,15 m.

• Righting lever GZ should be at least 0,2 m and angle of heel Θ ≥ 30̊.

• Maximum righting lever should occur at heel > 30̊ preferably but not less than 25̊.

• The Area of the GZ curve should be at least:

1) 0,055 m radian up to Θ = 30̊

2) 0,090 m radian up to Θ = 40̊

3) 0,03 m radian between 30̊ and 40̊ or between 30̊ and angle of down flooding.
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The angle of down flooding is an angle at which deck immersion takes place with

subsequent water ingress.

But how an instability is created and what we consider “ship instability”? Well above,

there presented some major cases of instability that reflect real situations and how the

naval architectures and the engineers solved them by taking measures in design and in

operation level to prevent them from happening again.

Free Surface Effect of Ships

When any tank or a compartment is partially filled, the motion of the liquid (due to the

ship’s rolling and pitching motions) would reduce the stability of the ship. Why? Because,

when the ship is inclined, the liquid in the tank shifts to the lower side of the tank, as

shown in the following figure.

Figure 1: Free surface effect.

In the above figure, the ship tank extends from the bottom to the tank top (shown in

red) and is only partially filled. When the ship is in upright position, the free surface of

liquid in the tank is shown as AA1. When the ship inclines to a certain angle of heel the
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free surface of the liquid now changes to TT 1. Also, the center of buoyancy shifts from

“B” to “B1”.

What happens as a result of this? Do note that when the liquid in the tank is transferred

to the lower side, the volume of the liquid within the wedge between points “A” and “T”

has now shifted to the lower side between the points A 1 and T1. So basically, the center of

gravity of that volume of liquid has shifted from “g” to “g1”.

As a result of the weight shift within the ship, the center of gravity of the ship now shifts

from “G” to “G1”. The effect of this shift of liquid is such that the resultant weight of the

entire system acts through a virtual point which is much higher than the actual center of

gravity of the ship. This virtual center of gravity “GV” is obtained by extending a vertical

line from the new center of gravity “G1” to the centerline of the ship. So, the resultant KG

increases, therefore reducing the metacentric height of the ship.

The new metacentric height with free surface effect is now “GVM”, and the new righting

lever is “GVZV”, both of which are significantly less than the original values (without free

surface effect). It is this reduction in the metacentric height or rise in the CG of the ship

due to free surface effect, that reduces the stability of the ship or may even render it

unstable.

This reduction in metacentric height due to free surface effect can be calculated by the

following expression:

Meaning:

ρL = Density of the liquid in the tank.

ρS = Density of seawater.

IL= Area moment of the free surface about the tank’s longitudinal center line.
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∇S = Mass displacement of the ship in sea water.

There are some very important conclusions that can be drawn from the above expression,

and these are used to develop design methods to combat free surface effect on ships.

They can be enlisted as:

• The effect of free surface is independent of the position of the tank. That is, a tank

may be at any height within the ship, or at any longitudinal position, and

the development of any free surface in it would affect the ship in the same way

irrespective of its location.

• Reduction of metacentric height due to free surface effect is more for denser liquids.

• The shape of the tank plays a major role in the evaluation of free surface effect.

That is because, reduction in the stability of the ship is directly proportional to the

area moment of the free surface about the tank’s longitudinal centerline. What does

this imply? The lesser transverse surface area of the free surface, lesser its area

moment of inertia about the tank’s longitudinal centerline, lesser the reduction in

GM due to free surface

effect.

In order to attain this, a

design priority during the

design of tanks is to

reduce the longitudinal

moment of the free

surface by providing

longitudinal bulkheads in

tanks having large surface area, as shown in the figure below.

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Figure 2: Longitudinal division of a tank

to reduce free surface effect.

In the first case, a tank with

breadth same as the beam of

the ship (b) would have

produced significantly high

reduction in GM due to a free

surface. If the same tank is

compartmentalized into

three equal parts by providing two longitudinal bulkheads, the free surface would reduce

by a factor of cube of the breadth of the tank (b). If you study the tank plan of any ship,

you would notice that large fuel and fresh water tanks are divided into Port, Center, and

Starboard compartments for this reason.

Free Surface Effect for two Liquids:

Figure 3: Free surface effect in twin-fluid tanks

There are cases where one tank contains

two immiscible liquids. In fuel compensation

tanks, the volume of fuel oil used is replaced

by sea water. In gasoline tanks, seawater is

introduced into the tank in order to prevent

leaving any spaces for inflammable vapors.

Gasoline being lighter than sea water, always forms the top layer, and is extracted from

the top of the tank.

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What happens is, the interface of the two liquids act as a free surface. So, when the ship

inclines, the interface will remain parallel to the waterline. For this to happen, the certain

volume of the heavier liquid needs to shift to the lower side of the ship, replacing certain

volume that was occupied by the lighter liquid. The replaced volume of the lighter liquid

in turn, shifts to the upper side. The resultant effect is a shift of CG due to the motion of

fluids, which creates a free surface effect.

Effect of Shifting of Dry Bulk Cargo:

In ships carrying dry cargo in bulk like grains, ore, coal, etc. even though the surface of

the cargo is flattened after loading, rolling motion during voyage is likely to redistribute

the cargo within the hold, causing it to shift to one side. This will result in a list towards

one side. Now, a ship which has listed due to shift in cargo is vulnerable to capsi zing in

case rolling increases to larger angles. In fact, bulk carriers have been known to capsize

due to shift of cargo.

In order to prevent such cases, designers are supposed to make sure that their design

complies with the IMO Code of Safe Practices for Solid Bulk Cargoes (IMO, 1980). The

Code provides a list of technical specifications for each type of bulk cargo and their

respective angles of repose. What we will focus on, in this section, is not the details of the

Code, since it is a specific document and is easily obtainable. What’s important here, is to

see how shift in cargo affects a ship’s stability.

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Figure 4: Stability curve of a ship

with shift of dry cargo.

The above figure is the

representation of the

ship’s stability during shift

of dry cargo. The dotted

curve “AB” plots the

heeling arm or lever

caused due to grain shift. To generate this plot, analysis is carried out for various loading

conditions, and accordingly a range of grain heeling plots are obtained. Each plot should

be treated as a separate case for analyzing the stability of the ship at each load case.

Now, imagine a ship in which grain has shifted to one side. The ship would list up to an

angle at which the grain heeling moment would cancel out the righting moment.

Graphically, this point is achieved where the curves of grain heeling arm and static stability

curve of the ship intersect.

In case of grain shift, the resultant maximum righting arm of the ship also reduces. Here’s

how. Let’s say, maximum GZ for the given case occurs at a heel angle of 40 degrees. Due

to existence of a grain heeling arm at 40 degrees (ƛ40) the resultant maximum GZ would

be (GZMAX – ƛ40).

The dynamic stability of a ship is the area enclosed within its static stability curve. It gives

us the magnitude of external heeling energy that the ship can absorb before capsizing.

The area accountable to dynamic stability reduces due to the presence of a grain heeling

arm. In other words, in case of absence of a cargo shift, the area contributing to dynamic

stability would be the area between the static stability curve and the horizontal axis.

Whereas, the area between the heeling arm curve and the horizontal axis is reduced from
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the original area when cargo shifting occurs. This means, the ship can now absorb less

external energy (wind, waves, centrifugal force due to high speed turns) before capsizing.

Therefore, the following design constraints are taken care of in order to prevent loss of

stability due to shift of dry cargo:

• The value of initial transverse metacentric height (GM T) assuming free surface effect

to be present. It must not be less than 0.3 meter.

• The value of initial transverse metacentric height (GM T): It should not be less

than 0.3 meter if we consider that the free surface effect is present.

• Angle of list due to shift of dry cargo. As per the code, this value should not

exceed 12 degrees in any sea state.

• Angle of list due to shift of dry cargo: As per the code, this value should not

exceed 12 degrees in any sea state.

• The value of grain heeling arm at 40 degrees heel. This constraint is laid down,

assuming the fact that most ships attain maximum GM at 40 degrees heel angle.

• The value of grain heeling arm at 40 degrees heel: This constraint has been

set assuming the fact that most ships attain maximum GM at 40 degrees heel angle.

The slope of top-side tanks and size of the cargo holds, hence, play a major role in

preventing shift of dry cargo within a dry bulk carrier.

There are a range of other reasons for rise in the center of gravity of a ship, or in other

words, reduction in its stability. We will list and discuss some of them below:

• Collapse of a longitudinal bulkhead or a tank bulkhead may lead to rise in the CG

as it would increase the moment of inertia of the free surface.

• Stability of a ship is significantly reduced due to build-up of ice on its superstructure.

It not only causes unwanted angles of list, but also unwanted trim conditions. Often,

list due to icing of superstructures is a result of asymmetrical accumulation of ice,

which causes the center of gravity of the ship to shift. The resultant value of righting
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arm would be significantly less for all angles of heel, therefore causing

a reduction in:

1. Maximum GZ

2. Initial transverse metacentric height.

3. Dynamic stability.

4. Range of stability.

A very interesting question arises here. If, during an unloading operation, a timber deck

cargo ship has a list to the port side due to accumulation of timber on the port side, which

side should be unloaded first in order to correct the list?

Someone with only a basic intuition would obviously say that since the cargo is port side

is the lower side (and there is excess cargo in the port side), the ship must release cargo

from the port side itself. But this would capsize the ship. Why? Because while it may

appear that removal of excess cargo from the lower side would upright the ship, what

happens is, weight is being removed from the lower side. It means, the center of gravity

shifts upwards, resulting in a decrease in metacentric height, and hence, the margin of

stability decreases drastically.

Concept of Heel, List, and Loll

We have used all the three terms several times in this and the previous articles of this

series. While all the three terms would mean that a ship is inclined to a certain angle, they

do not mean the same. As in, they are terms used to understand the cause’ behind the

inclined condition of the ship.

List: A ship is said to be in a condition of list when the upsetting moments are caused by

internal shift of weight that can be caused due to the following actions:

• Shift of cargo within the ship.

• Free surface effects.

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• Crowding of passengers on one side of the ship.

• Asymmetrical icing on the superstructure.

Heel: A vessel is said to be heeling when the upsetting moments are caused by external

agents, for example:

• Beam winds.

• Heel due to a high-speed turn.

• Heel due to a missile shot in transverse direction (in warships).

Figure 6: Ship heeling to port while

executing a sharp turn to starboard

Loll: The condition of loll is

completely different from the

above two. A ship is said to have

an angle of loll when it is

investigated that the ship has a

negative initial stability, or a

negative initial metacentric

height.

A negative initial GM may occur

due to the following reasons:

• Free surface effects.

• Flooded compartments.

• Top heaviness – or excessive loading on upper decks.

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• Accumulation of green waters on the weather deck due to clogged scuppers.

Figure 7: Condition of Loll due to

negative initial GM.

The analogies discussed above leave us with two very important inferences:

A ship with a heel or a list is not necessarily unstable, as heel or list does not imply that a

ship has a negative value of GM. However, the case of instability cannot be ruled out

unless the GM values are checked. But a ship with a Loll is an unstable ship because it

has a negative GM in upright condition.

The importance of understanding stability of ships lies in appreciating that, without all the

concepts that we have been discussing and the approaches we have adopted in

understanding stability, it is impossible to understand the inferences. It is based on

inferences such as these, that designers and experienced ship crew develop a sense of

intuition towards analyzing cases of ship’s stability.

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Part II (Damage Stability)

At the final part of this project we will discuss about damaged stability of a surface ship

comes of use when the ship’s watertight hull is affected in a way that allows water to flood

any compartment within the ship’s hull.

Before going into the methods that are used to evaluate the damaged stability of a ship,

we will discuss the effects of flooding on a ship:

• Change of Draft: Flooding results in entry of water into the ship’s damaged

compartment. This will cause a change in draft to the point where the displacement

of the undamaged (intact) part of the ship will be equal to the displacement before

damage less the weight of the water that entered the ship after flooding. To express

it:

• Change of Trim: Ingress of water in a compartment can be considered as an

addition of weight to any point along the length of the ship. This causes a change

in the trim of the ship.

• Heeling: The ship will heel if the damaged compartment is unsymmetrically

positioned about the centerline of the ship. If the metacentric height of the ship in

the flooded condition is negative, the damaged ship is rendered unstable. In such a

case, the ship would capsize if the flooded compartment is unsymmetrical about the

centerline and is prone to capsize by action of any external heeling moment if the

compartment is symmetrical about the centerline.

• Change in Stability: The metacentric height of the ship changes due to flooding.

This can be explained by the general expression of metacentric height:

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The explanation of reduction in stability can be done in two ways. For now, it should be

enough to understand that when a ship is flooded, it results in a change

of KB and BM values. The KB rises due to flooding, and it may rise further due to change

in the ship’s trim. However, there is a significant reduction in BM, which is a function of

the area moment of the ship’s water plane.

Change in Freeboard: The increase in draft of the flooded ship results in reduction of

freeboard, which poses a great threat to the residual buoyancy of the ship. Even though

the metacentric height may be positive after flooding, reduction in freeboard to a point

where the deck is immersed, decreases the ship’s range of stability. This means that the

ship could now capsize due to external forces of wind or waves.

Loss of the ship: One of the most common terms that is used in damaged condition of a

ship, is Margin Line. The Margin Line of a ship is an imaginary waterline considered 75 mm

below the uppermost continuous watertight deck. If a ship is damaged, it is safe only if

the margin line is not immersed. Once the waterline reaches the margin line at any point

along the length of the ship, the ship is unsafe, and evacuation becomes mandatory.

Figure 1: Reduced GM

due to damage to a ship.

The reduction in

metacentric height

due to damage can

be extrapolated to
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the stability curve as a reduction in height of the GZ curve and range of stability . So, if

the loss in metacentric height is such that the remaining maximum righting lever (GZ) is

less than the heeling moment, the ship will capsize. It is, therefore, the designers work

to:

1. Design the subdivision in such a way that the remaining righting arm is enough up

to a certain level of damage.

2. To identify the extent of damage that can be considered safe for the ship.

Concept of Subdivision of a Ship

Traditionally, a ship is divided longitudinally into several watertight compartments to

restrict the flooding to one or more compartments in case of damage. This pr events

progressive flooding (i.e. flooding across the entire ship’s length in case of a damage at

any location). The compartmentalization is done by means of transverse watertight

bulkheads. But the interesting question that arises here is, how many watertight bulkheads

would a ship require? How many compartments do we divide a ship into? These are

answers that need to be answered at a very initial phase of the design, most usually, in

the concept design phase.

To understand the how’s of this concept, we first need to understand the concept of

“floodable” length. Refer to the figure underneath to follow the concept further.

Figure 2: Floodable Length

Curve.
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For any point “P” along the length of the ship, the floodable length (l) is the maximum

portion of the ship’s length with the point “P” at the center that can be completely flooded

symmetrically without immersing the margin line. For our convenience, we re present the

floodable length of every point on the vertical axis. So, for the point “P” we can plot the

floodable length at point ‘F’ on the vertical axis. Similarly, when the floodable lengths of

all the points on the ship are plotted, we obtain the Floodable Length Curve.

So, what is the use of Floodable Length Curves? The advantage that these curves come

with is that they can be plotted very inexpensively, and at a very initial stage of the design.

This makes it possible for the designers to decide on the number of watertight

compartments, marginal compartments, and transverse bulkheads required by the ship.

We will first see, how the position of bulkheads is fixed, based on the floodable length

curves.

Suppose we place two watertight bulkheads at “l” and as “P” as their midpoint. We know,

that since the floodable length at “P” is “l”, by the definition of floodable length, if the

compartment of length “l” and with ‘P’ as its mid-point is flooded, the margin line will

remain above the waterline. Hence, the compartment between the bulkheads shown in

the above figure is a safe design.

Note that in the above figure, the height of the triangle drawn from the two bulkhead is

equal to the floodable length of the point “P”. In other words, to ensure if a compartment

is safe or not, we simply need to draw a triangle from the two bulkheads. The height of

the triangle should be equal to the length of the compartment. If the vertex of the triangle

meets the floodable length curve, or is below the curve, the compartment is safe (as shown

for compartment AA’ in the figure below). However, if we now increase the length of the

compartment from AA’ to BB’ (as shown in blue), the vertex of the triangle exceeds the

floodable length curve. In other words, the bulkheads, if placed at BB’, would result in
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submergence of the margin line if the compartment between the bulkheads was to be

completely flooded.

Figure 3: Effect of change in

compartment length.

So, to check whether a compartment plan (a longitudinal distribution of watertight

bulkheads along the ship’s length) is safe, designers follow the steps as explained below:

• Step 1: The floodable length curve is plotted.

• Step 2: Watertight bulkheads are placed at random, but known positions along the

length of the ship, thus dividing it into a number of watertight compartments.

• Step 3: Triangles are drawn for each compartment such that the height of each

triangle is equal to the length of the compartment.

Figure 4: Step 2- Compartment Layout.

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Figure 5: Step 3 – Triangles for

each compartment.

• Step 4: At this stage, it is important for the designer to know what compartment

standard the ship must be designed to. So, what is a Compartment Standard? A

ship is said to have a Single Compartment Standard if it is designed to be sea-

worthy (should be able to remain afloat, and margin line should not be immersed)

even after any one of its watertight compartments have been damaged completely.

Similarly, a ship with Two Compartment Standard can remain afloat even after

complete damage to any of its two adjacent watertight compartments.

So, once the compartment standard is fixed, the designer must now check the same using

the obtained floodable length curve. For the compartment layout set in the above example,

we have all the triangles with vertices below the floodable length curve (refer to the figure

below). This means that the chosen compartment plan can be used to certify the ship with

Single Compartment Standard.

Figure 6: One Compartment

Standard.

But if the design of the ship demands a two compartment standard, the above check is

not enough. In order to perform a two compartment standard check, the triangles need
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to be drawn in a way considering that two adjacent watertight compartments are

damaged. For example, in the Figure 7, the triangle AKC has been drawn for the case

when compartments AB and BC are completely flooded. In simpler terms, we will now

consider two adjacent compartments as one. The results obtained for the above case, is

as shown below.

Figure 7: Two Compartment

Standard.

The results clearly tell us that the margin line would submerge if the following

compartments were flooded together:

• Both AB and BC.

• Both BC and CD.

• Both EF and FG.

• Both FG and GH.

But the margin line would remain above the waterline for simultaneous flooding of either

of the two cases:

• Both CD and DE.

• Both DE and EF.

In such a case, the ship is given a two compartment standard, but only for simultaneous

flooding of compartments CD and EF or DE and EF. Hence, if in case of a damage to the

engine room (which would usually be in compartment BC), progressive flooding to the

steering gear compartment (AB) or the compartment just forward of the engine room (CD)

cannot be afforded to keep the margin line from submerging.

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Concept of Permeability

Practically, all the compartments in ships would contain items within them that would

reduce the total volume that can be occupied by the flooded water. The items include

stiffeners, web frames, longitudinal, brackets, beam knees, equipment, piping, and outfits.

Hence, the ratio of the floodable volume to the total volume of the compartment gives the

permeability of the compartment. It is denoted by µ and is usually expressed in

percentage.

The general values of permeability used for different types of compartments are listed

below, followed by a logical understanding of the variation in the values:

✓ Watertight Compartment – 95 to 97%

✓ Accommodation spaces – 95%

✓ Machinery compartments – 85%

✓ Cargo holds – 60%

✓ Stores – 60 %

What is to be observed here is that the permeability of machinery spaces (engine room,

auxiliary machinery room, pump room, etc.) is lower than watertight compartments (like

tanks, cofferdams, etc.) and accommodation spaces. The least permeability is obtained in

cargo holds and stores which are usually stacked full or partially full, leaving lesser volume

for flooded water.

The floodable length of each point along the ship’s length is multiplied by the permeability

to obtain the Permissible Length. It is based on this permissible length curve, and not

on the floodable length that we judge the final compartment standards of the ship. This is

exactly what has been illustrated below, where the permissible length curves are first

plotted for each permeability value.

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Figure 8: One compartment standard

with permeability factors considered.

The permissible length curves for 85% and 60% permeability are now incorporated into

the floodable subdivision diagram. Here, for machinery compartments (e.g. engine room

compartment BC) the vertices for the triangle needs to be checked against the 85% curve,

instead of the floodable length (100%) curve, which we did when permeability was not

introduced. In this case, all compartments satisfy for single compartment standard.

The application of permeability would come to be noticed in a case illustrated below:

Figure 9: Evaluation of compartment

standard and marginal compartment

with permeability.

Here, the machinery compartment (AB) seems to be within the permissible length. But

how do we assess whether compartment BC is really safe? This is the subdivision diagram

for a typical merchant ship. The compartment BC is generally used for cargo holds, where

the permeability is as low as 60%. Hence, the triangle for this compartment is to be

checked against the 60% permissible length curve, which determines that one

compartment standard is achievable.

Another important concept that comes to play here, is that of Marginal Compartment.

The compartment CD, its length is exactly equal to the floodable length, which is why the

vertex of its triangle coincides the floodable length curve. Such a compartment is called a
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Marginal Compartment. However, in this case, the marginal compartment does not behave

as one because of the permeability factor. The compartment CD in merchant ships is

usually used for cargo hold or forward stores, giving it a permeability of 60%.

It is therefore evident that though the triangles may overshoot the floodable length curve,

the final analysis is to be made only after calculating the permeability of every

compartment.

Evaluation of Damaged Stability Equilibrium Conditions

The most important step in analysis of a damaged condition, is to calculate the equilibrium

conditions, which include the final trim, heel and drafts after the location and extent of

damage is known. There are two methods that are used for this purpose. We will only

graze through the concepts of each:

• Lost Buoyancy Method: This method assumes that the damaged compartment

does not contribute to the total buoyancy of the ship. Hence, the ship loses a part

of its total waterplane, and its buoyancy, therefore reducing stability. This method

is easier to use, because it is not iterative. On the other hand, the results obtained

from this method are slightly less accurate than the other method.

• Added Weight Method: The added weight method considers the flooded water to

be a weight added to a certain point in the ship. The problem is them solved like a

traditional weight addition case, and the trim and drafts are calculated over a set of

iterations. Though this process is time consuming, it provides more accurate results,

and is hence used by most stability analysis software.

What’s important to understand, is the conceptual application of damaged stability.

These concepts are now applied in advanced levels to develop newer ways of

understanding damaged stability of ships, something that has taken a probabilistic

approach in the recent days.