MET 335W

Fluid Mechanics Laboratory

Lab 2: Stability of a Floating Body

Nick Peak

February 05, 2018

Purpose
The purpose of this experiment is to test and understand the stability of a simple
floating body. This is accomplished by adjusting a weight on a buoyant pontoon and
observing how the system reacts when the weight is positioned away from the center of
gravity.

Pontoon Apparatus

Materials
▪ Pontoon apparatus with adjustable weight
▪ Water
▪ Container

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Procedure
1. Record the mass of the assembly, mass of the weight, the breadth of the
pontoon, and the length of the pontoon.

2. Fill the container with water. Add enough to allow the pontoon to tilt from side to
side.

3. Place the pontoon into the container of water.

4. Set the weight on the appropriate rung of the pontoon. Use the rung at 98mm
and the 0mm (centered) position when taking the initial reading.

5. Allow the pontoon and plumb bob to stabilize.

6. Use the scale on the bottom of the pontoon to record the angular displacement
of the system. The plumb bob should be read at eye-level for most accurate
results.

7. Repeat steps 4-6, incrementing the weight to the left and right of the center.
Note that the stability of the system will change and cause the pontoon to tip
over.

8. Once the tipping distance has been found on the left and right side of the rung,
repeat step 7, incrementing the rung height to 158mm, 218mm, 278mm, and
finally 338mm.

9. Empty the container and dry off the pontoon assembly when all data has been
recorded.

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Data
The data tables below contain calculations involved in the theoretical portion of this
exercise. The formulas for theoretical properties are given in Table 2.

System Constants
Theoretical Properties w/Given Constants

System Mass 2.32 kg

4
Weight Mass 0.389 kg Moment of Inertia, I = LB3/12 0.000233 m
3
Pontoon Breadth, B 0.2 m Displaced Volume, V = W/g 0.002709 m
Pontoon Length, L 0.35 m Metacentric Height, BM = I/V 0.086117 m
Specific Weight of Water, g 9.81 kg/m3 Immersion Depth, DI = V/LB 0.038707 m
System Weight, W 26.58 N C.B. Depth, DCB = DI/2 0.019353 m
Adjustable Weight, w 3.82 N
Figure 1: System constant table Figure 2: Theoretical properties

Height of Angles of degrees for adjustable weight lateral

weight, y, displacement from center line, x, [mm]
[mm]
-60 -45 -30 -15 0 15 30 45 60
98 -8.50 -6.50 -4.50 -2.00 0.00 2.00 4.25 6.50 8.50
158 -7.50 -5.50 -2.50 0.00 2.50 5.00 7.50
218 -6.50 -3.00 0.00 3.00 7.50
278 -4.00 0.00 5.50
338 -5.50 -0.50 4.50
Figure 3: Displacement vs weight position

Experimental Properties
Height of
dθ/dx ybar CG dx/dθ GM CM BM
weight [mm]
[˚/mm] [mm] [mm] [mm/rad] [mm] [mm] [mm]
98 0.142 54.784 16.077 404.441 58.125 74.203 93.556
128 0.167 59.096 20.389 343.775 49.406 69.795 89.149
218 0.250 72.030 33.323 229.183 32.938 66.261 85.614
278 0.367 80.653 41.946 156.261 22.457 64.404 83.757
338 0.300 89.276 50.570 190.986 27.448 78.017 97.371
Figure 4: Experimental property calculations

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 Analysis

Degrees of Tilt VS Horizontal Weight Position

10.00

8.00

6.00

4.00

2.00
Tilt [degrees]

0.00
-60 -45 -30 -15 0 15 30 45 60
-2.00

Linear (98mm) y = 2.1417x - 10.736

-4.00
Linear (158mm) y = 2.5357x - 10.214

-6.00 Linear (218mm) y = 3.4x - 10

Linear (278mm) y = 5x - 10.5

-8.00
Linear (338mm) y = 4.75x - 9
-10.00
Horizontal Distance [mm]

Figure 5: Angular displacement VS

Analysis
In Figure 5, the angular displacement is plotted against the horizontal offset of the
weight at all five height settings. This diagram helps illustrate the relationship between
the center of buoyancy, center of gravity, and the metacenter. If the metacenter is at a
greater height than the center of gravity, the object is stable. If the metacenter is at
the same or less height than the center of gravity, the object is unstable and prone to
tipping or rolling. In Figure 3, the number of entries for horizontal position decreases
when increasing the height. This is because the pontoon would roll when exceeding the
existing entries, which demonstrates the relationship of the metacenter and the
submerged center of gravity. In Figure 4, each reading can be observed to be stable

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since the center of gravity (CG) is less than the metacentric height (CM). The equations
for each of these calculations are listed below.

𝑤
𝐶. 𝐺. (𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑏𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑜𝑚 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑜𝑜𝑛), 𝑦𝑏𝑎𝑟 = 𝑦 ( ) + 40.7 [𝑚𝑚]
𝑊

𝑉
𝐶𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦, 𝐶𝐺 = 𝑦𝑏𝑎𝑟 − ( ) [𝑚𝑚]
𝐿𝐵

𝑤 𝑑𝑥
𝑀𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑐 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝐶. 𝐵. , 𝐺𝑀 = ( ) ( ) [𝑚𝑚]
𝑊 𝑑𝜃

𝑀𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑐 ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡, 𝐶𝑀 = 𝐺𝑀 + 𝐶𝐺 [𝑚𝑚]

One factor that may have influenced the instability of the pontoon is the plumb bob.
During the experiment, the participants found it difficult to completely halt the swinging
of the plumb bob. The pendulum-like action may have influenced the height of the
metacenter during its swing and encouraged the roll of the pontoon. A major source of
error in this experiment is the result of using a plumb bob as an indicator. It proved to
be difficult to read because of the constant swinging.

Conclusion & Recommendations

Upon considering the difficulty of recording data from this experiment, it may be
difficult to observe the concepts of buoyancy. The main cause of this complication is the
use of the plumb bob, as it is difficult to accurately read. The readings vary due to
several factors including the time it takes to become stationary and the height at which
it is read. To improve this experiment, it is recommended to use a pontoon apparatus
with an integrated accelerometer system with a digital readout. This would provide the
user that is an interface that gives fast and accurate readings, thus helping reduce
general user error. Using an accelerometer level such as this would also decrease the
time it takes for the pontoon to stabilize, since the swinging weight of the plum bob
would be eliminated. A calibrated accelerometer would also be helpful in eliminating
any inaccuracy that would come from an uncalibrated scale on the bottom of the
pontoon. The relationships and concepts of buoyancy may be easier to observe in a
laboratory setting once these changes are implemented.

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