20 3 Design Constraints

3.2 Physical Constraint

The physical constraint is a basic, important constraint in ship design. A ship must
be designed to float in the water. For a ship to float in the water, the ship must satisfy
hydrostatic equilibrium and thus the gravitational force (total weight, W) of
the ship must be equal to the buoyant force (FB) acting on the underwater volume
of the ship. This constraint can be stated as the following equation.

j FB j ¼ j W j ð3:1Þ

In the equation, the total weight of the ship can be expressed as the sum of
lightweight (LWT) and deadweight (DWT) of the ship. It gives Eq. (3.2).

jWj ¼ ðLWT þ DWT Þ  jgj ð3:2Þ

According to the Archimedes’ principle, the buoyant force (FB) on the under-
water volume has the same magnitude as the weight of the fluid (e.g., sea water)
displaced by the underwater volume. It gives Eq. (3.3).

jFB j ¼ jΔj ¼ ρ  ∇  jgj ð3:3Þ

where, ∇ is underwater volume (also called displacement volume) of ship, ρ∇ is

displacement mass of the ship, and ρ∇g is displacement (Δ) of the ship. As a
result, in shipbuilding and shipping society, the buoyant force is called in another
word, displacement.
In the right side of Eq. (3.4), the underwater volume of the ship can be expressed
by block coefficient (CB).

∇molded ¼ L  B  T  CB ð3:4Þ

where, L, B, and T are length (LBP), molded breadth, and draft of the ship,
respectively.
In general, we have to consider the displacement of shell plates and appendages
such as propeller, rudder, shaft, and so on. Thus, the total underwater volume of
the ship can be expressed as the following equation.

∇total ¼ L  B  T  CB  ð1 þ αÞ ð3:5Þ

where, α is a fraction of the shell appendage allowance which adapts the molded volume
to the actual volume by accounting for the volume of shell plates and appendages.
As a result, on the left side of Eq. (3.1), the buoyant force can be expressed as the
following equation.

jFB j ¼ ρ  ∇total  jgj ¼ ρ  L  B  T  CB  ð1 þ αÞ  jgj ð3:6Þ

From Eqs. (3.2) and (3.6), the physical constraint can be described by the
following equation.