5 Questions that can help in

Understanding of Squat effect on ships

Written by Capt Rajeev Jassal on July 21, 2016

Years back when I first came across the term squat, frankly I
failed to understand it. Well if you just want to know the
mathematical formula and calculate the squat, it is no rocket
science. But to answer questions like “Why do squat effect take
place” may not be easy to understand.

Are you too in the same boat ?

Most of us know that Squat is the decrease in ship’s under keel
clearance due to vessel’s movement in the shallow water. And
it is not a theoretical thing, it is a real thing.

Incident of sinking of RO-RO vessel “Herald of free enterprise”

was the result of squat.
But squat is not always bad. In 2010, passenger vessel “Oasis
of the sea” used the squat to its advantage. It allowed squat
to reduce its air draft. This helped the vessel
to safely pass under a bridge, which otherwise was not
possible.
Incidents like these show how important the knowledge of
squat is. But there are many questions related to squat,
answers to which are sometimes difficult to find.

In this post I will try to answer five of these questions related

to squat that mariners usually ask or enquire about.
Question 1: Why and how does squat effect take place ?

The ships float in water because of one simple reason. There is

no net force acting on the ship. Now it is not that there are no
forces acting on the ship. But all these forces are equal and
opposite in nature.

Two of these forces that act in opposite directions are

gravitation force and buoyancy. Force of gravity like to sink the
ship and force of buoyancy likes to make it float. Force of
gravity continue to sink the vessel until force of buoyancy
becomes equal to force of gravity.

Even when we add a weight (cargo) on a floating ship, the

gravitation force increases. This will cause the ship to sink up
to a point when force of buoyancy (that increases as per
the Archimedes principle) becomes equal to the gravitation
force.
If you wish to read more about Archimedes principle, you can
do so by clicking here, here or here.
The point I am trying to make here is that any increase or
decrease in a force on or around ship will affect the ship in a
way that depends upon the direction of force.

Squat is the decrease in ship’s under keep clearance when it

moves in shallow water because of low pressure created under
the ship.

Now the question is why do we have low pressure under the

ship when it is moving in shallow waters. The answer lies in
Bernoulli’s theorem.

If you are OK with reading little bit of physics, you can read
about the Bernoulli’s theorem by clicking here or here.
But if you are in no mood to deviate from the topic of squat
then you just need to know following from Bernoulli’s theorem

As per Bernoulli’s theorem, in a flowing liquid if the flow

velocity  increases, the pressure in the region would
decrease. Above conclusion is drawn from the Bernoulli’s  law
of conservation of mass in a flowing liquid. As per Bernoulli’s
theorem, the mass of flowing liquid in per unit area will always
be same.
Now have you tried to run fast and felt air resistance acting on
your chest ? You feel some pressure on your chest. But do you
feel similar pressure on your back ? I am sure your answer is
No.
You feel this pressure on your chest because your chest is
trying to replace the air as you move (or run) forward. The air
so replaced by you fills the vacuum you created by leaving your
earlier position.

In the same way, when a ship moves forward it pushes the

water forward. The water all around must flow under and
around the hull to replace the volume of water pushed by the
bow.

In open sea there is no problem for the water to flow under the
hull. But in shallow waters, this flow is restricted. This results in
higher flow velocity of water passing under the hull. And there
is decrease in pressure because of high velocity of water (as
per Bernoulli’s theorem).
Now as the pressure at the bottom of the ship decrease, ship
need to react in some manner to compensate that. Remember
we said, ship’s float because net force acting on the ship is
zero. This drop in pressure is compensated by the sinkage of
the vessel as the direction of this force (low pressure) is
downwards.

But will this sinkage be bodily, by stern or by bow ?  We will

discuss it later.
Question 2: What are the factors that affects Squat ?

Now that we know the reason behind squat effect, let’s see
what factors affects squat.

Speed of the vessel

As we know the squat is caused by the low pressure that is
developed under a ship in shallow water. With more and more
speed of the vessel, the squat will increase. This is because
with more speed, the vessel will push more water forward and
more water is required to fill that void.

This will cause more drop in pressure under the hull and vessel
need to sink more to compensate for that drop in pressure.

But we need to understand that the speed here is “speed

through water” and not “speed over ground”. Why, you may
ask ?
Consider a ship moving at 6 Knots GPS speed with 6 knots
current from astern. Is the ship pushing any water forward ?
No it isn’t because the water is flowing with the ship. In fact in
this case ship will not be using engine as the ship will be
moving with the current. Will there be any squat in this case ?
No there will not be because as the ship is not pushing any
water forward, no water is required to pass under the hull of
ship.
So the squat in this case will be zero because the ship’s speed
through water is zero. This is even when the ship is having a
speed over ground (GPS speed) of 6 knots.

So we can say that squat depends upon the speed through

water.

This is also the reason that vessel can experience squat while
alongside in a river with strong current. In this case
vessel’s speed over ground is zero but speed through water is
equal to the the river current.

Block coefficient of the vessel

I am sure you already know what block coefficient of the vessel
is. But I will refresh this for those who might need it.
Block coefficient is the ratio of vessel’s underwater volume
(Displacement) to the volume of a box that this could fit in.

So for a box shaper vessel, the block coefficient will be 1.

But how does block coefficient of a vessel affect Squat ?

Again it all depends upon how much water a moving ship

pushes forward. Let me ask a question. Which ship will push
more water while moving. A box shaped vessel or a vessel like
this in the picture below.
 

I am assuming that you have got it right. Yes, a box shaped

vessel will push more water and hence will have more squat
compared to the ship in the photo above provided all other
conditions are same.

So more the block coefficient of the vessel, more will be the

squat.

Blockage factor of the canal and narrow channel

Canals and narrow channels creates a different scenario. In a
canal, Apart from having shallow water beneath, even the
sideways water flow is restricted. This creates additional low
pressure which affects the squat.

But how do we know if the blockage factor exists or not.

Blockage factor is a ratio of ship’s immersed cross section to

the cross section of water within the canal.

We can calculate the blockage factor by this formula

Blockage factor = b x h / B x H
Blockage factor of less than 0.100 represents open sea like
conditions and hence no blockage factor.

Blockage factor of 0.265 represents narrow channel.

Question 3: How do we know if the squat will result in

forward trim, aft trim or no trim ?

As we discussed, in shallow depths, the water tries to fill the

void created by moving ship. For the fine-form ships like Queen
Mary 2, the bow of the ship will not obstruct the water flow as
much as the mid and aft section of the ship. This is because of
the shape of the bow.

In this case the effective low pressure will be aft of the

midship. This will cause the stern to sink more than the bow
and will result in trimming aft because of squat.

With full-form ships like super-tankers, it is other way around.

On these ships bow shape is what we call full-form. Because of
which bow obstruct considerable amount of water flow. The
resultant low pressure created by the obstruction is forward of
the midship and these vessel squat will occur more at the bow.
This will result in trimming forward because of squat on these
vessels.

The tendency of the bow to obstruct the water flow is related to

the block coefficient of the vessel. Block coefficient of the
vessel also defines if the vessel will squat bodily, by stern or by
bow.

By various calculations, shipping scholars have got a defining

value (0.7) of block coefficient. If the block coefficient is 0.7,
the vessel will squat bodily. If the block coefficient is less than
0.7, the vessel will squat by stern. Finally if the block
coefficient is more than 0.7, the vessel will squat by bow.
Dr Barrass has done extensive research on the topic of squat.
And as per him, above rule will only be applicable when the
ship is at even keel in static position.

As per him, if the vessel is trimmed by stern in static position,

the maximum squat will be towards stern. And if the vessel is
trimmed by bow, the maximum squat will be towards bow.

So we can conclude as per below

Question 4: How can we calculate Squat ?

This is most important question. How can we calculate squat ?

There are two ways to know how much squat you can expect.
One with the help of a software and second by manual
calculation.

Calculating Squat manually

There are number of formulas to calculate squat. But Dr
Barrass’s formula is widely used for calculating squat. Dr
Barrass’s formula has several version ranging from the complex
formula to the simpler ones.

Have a look at the complex one.

This formula has a simpler version which takes into account
blockage factor.
And more simpler formula and which is used by most of the
navigators is the most simplified version of Dr. Barrass’s
formula.
If you notice, the simplified formula above is derived by
applying the blockage factor of open sea (0.100) and that of a
canal (0.265).

Calculating squat with a software

There are plenty of softwares available to calculate squat. If
you are using a software onboard for calculating squat, make
sure that it has been provided by your shore office. Random
softwares can give wrong values and as such can lead to mis-
calculation of squat.
One of the authentic and good software for calculating squat
is UKC manager.
To calculate the squat on UKC manager software, open UKC
manager and enter ship’s static data.

Next enter ship’s dynamic data. In the dynamic data we just

need to enter the values of draft at forward and aft
perpendicular. Rest of the data is not required if you only need
to have the value for squat.
Next enter topographical data. If you are in doubt about sea
type (open, restricted or canal), assume canal for being on
safer side.
Now under the “UKC Calculation options” we can tell the
software what we want to know ? Do we want to know the
speed at which we can achieve required UKC ? Or do we want
to know at what height of tide we can achieve the required UKC
? or do we want to know what should be our static draft to
achieve the required UKC ?
After choosing the required option, we can save and then click
on results.

It will give the required results in complete detail which

navigators can use for navigation.
 

Question 5: What are the signs that show vessel is

experiencing squat

While we need to allow the squat while calculating the ship’s

UKC in all stages of voyage, there are certain signs which can
show that we have entered in the shallow waters. Knowledge of
these signs can help the navigators to be more vigilant and
keep an eye on the echo sounder.

Presence of these signs is also a good time to re-confirm the

squat with your calculation. For example if we expect our UKC
 to be 5 meters at this position and actual UKC is 4 meters, it
would be better that we reduce our UKC by 1 meter in other
stages of the voyage. We can then re-calculate if we are
complying with UKC policy of the company. If not we can
calculate at what speed we can comply and proceed at that
speed.

So what are these signs which show that vessel is in shallow

water and is experiencing squat ? These signs are

 Ship’s steering becomes sluggish. That is it becomes

comparitively difficult to steer the ship

 Engine rpm will decrease to compensate for the load on

the engine.

 The speed of the ship will decrease. I have experienced

with 0.7 meters UKC, vessel moving at full ahead only making
6 knots GPS speed.

 The ship may start to vibrate

 Mud showing up around ship’s hull

 Vessel’s rolling and pitching reduced

 Turning diameter of the vessel increases (it can become as
much as twice to that in open sea)

Conclusion

Squat is not a theoritical term. It is a real practical

phenomenon experienced on ships moving in shallow waters.
People have lost life because of ships that sank because of
squat. Ship owners have lost millions of dollars because of
grounding of ships.

It makes more and more important to have complete

knowledge of squat and answer to these five questions can
help in that.

Do you know any other question related to squat that has gone
unanswered ?