Damage stability and watertight doors

A brief introduction
Gunnar Hjort
2013-05-29

Whats in this lecture?

Basic hydrostatic stability explained
Basic floatability and damage stability
Importance of closed watertight doors

Damage stability and watertight doors

2013-05-29
Det Norske Veritas AS. All rights reserved.

Basic hydrostatic stability

Archimedes

Newton

Archimedes: Buoyancy is equal to the weight of the displaced liquid

Newton:

Gravity pulls the ships mass towards the Earths centre

Hydrostatic stability is obtained when the buoyancy equalises the weight

of the vessel. The ship floats in a stable position.

Damage stability and watertight doors

2013-05-29
Det Norske Veritas AS. All rights reserved.

How is buoyancy created?

Water pressure increases with depth,
about1atmosphere per 10 meters
The buoyancy force is the sum of the
vertical forces from the water pressure
acting on the ship

G
B

This force is equal to the weight of the

water displaced by the ship
To simplify calculations we imagine
weight and buoyancy concentrated in a
centre of gravity (G) and a centre of
buoyancy (B).
The location of G and B are given in 3
dimensions; longitudinal, transverse and
vertical position
Damage stability and watertight doors
2013-05-29
Det Norske Veritas AS. All rights reserved.

The pressure acting on the flat bottom at 5 m

draught in seawater is about 5.1 tonnes/square
metre

What is stability?
Positive stability is the vessels ability to roll back to the initial position after being
exposed to a heeling moment (IMO definition)

B will move since the shape of the underwater body

will change when the ship heels. This creates a
righting moment
Damage stability and watertight doors
2013-05-29
Det Norske Veritas AS. All rights reserved.

What causes a capsize?

A ship will capsize if the sum of heeling moment(s) become greater than the righting
moment
The ship is stable if the heeling and righting moments are in balance

A moment is a force multiplied by

its distance to a reference point
a

In this illustration a chosen

reference point is indicated as K

G
W

Note that stability will improve if G

is lowered towards K

Righting lever

Weight and displacement are equal, opposed forces, so stability for each heeling
angle can be determined by the difference between heeling and righting arms
Intact and damage stability requirements are normally based on how the net
righting arm, referred to as the righting lever, varies when the ship heels
Damage stability and watertight doors
2013-05-29
Det Norske Veritas AS. All rights reserved.

Intact and damage stability criteria

The righting lever can be calculated and presented as a function of heeling angle
when the location of B and G are known.

Righting lever (GZ)

These curves are often referred to as GZ curves

Value

Area (Energy)

Common regulatory parameters are:

- Static heel for a given heeling moment
- Range of positive stability
- Minimum obtained righting lever
- Potential righting energy
Heel

Heel at equilibrium
Range

Note: The curve will not be correct if unprotected openings to volumes assumed to provide
buoyancy become immersed. The part beyond the flooding angle is disregarded.
Damage stability and watertight doors
2013-05-29
Det Norske Veritas AS. All rights reserved.

Free surface of liquids

The righting lever will be affected if there are slack tanks in the ship.
The margin for avoiding capsize is reduced

G G
Stability margin is reduced

B
If the ship starts to heel the centre of gravity of the tank contents will be free to
move and G for the whole ship will move as a result
Damage stability and watertight doors
2013-05-29
Det Norske Veritas AS. All rights reserved.

Why do ships sink - occasionally?

A ship will sink if its total weight
becomes greater than the
available buoyancy;

Residual (reserve) buoyancy

Buoyancy lost to compensate added water

Inflooded water

- Water enters the ship,

increasing the total weight*
- The ship must sink deeper
into the water to compensate
the added weight
- Residual buoyancy is lost

New waterline

(Added weight)

Flooding limited by watertight bulkheads

* Not entirely true

Watertight bulkheads are required to limit the spread of water inside the ship

Damage stability and watertight doors

2013-05-29
Det Norske Veritas AS. All rights reserved.

Staying afloat Floatability or floodability

The sinking stops if the water level inside the ship becomes equal to the
sea level outside.

If the water in the flooded

space can communicate
freely with the sea it is no
longer part of the ship; so

The volume of the flooded

space is no longer part of
the buoyancy

This shows a parallel sinking. In real life trim changes and transverse stability are
also vital factors for survival

Damage stability and watertight doors

2013-05-29
Det Norske Veritas AS. All rights reserved.

Damage stability Flooding of spaces

Filling a tank from the outside
will increase the ships weight

The centre of gravity shifts as

weight increases

The ship will sink deeper to

provide more buoyancy; and

The ship will heel, trying to

balance weight and buoyancy

Damage stability and watertight doors

2013-05-29
Det Norske Veritas AS. All rights reserved.

Damage stability Prevention of capsize

If a space is open to the sea the
buoyancy of that space and its
contents will eventually be lost.
The centre of buoyancy and the
centre of gravity* will shift
towards the undamaged side
In this situation the buoyancy
will not be able to prevent a
capsize if equilibrium cannot be
found at a larger angle

G
B

(* If the tank was not empty)

The volume of tanks and spaces must be limited with watertight
bulkheads to improve stability

Damage stability and watertight doors

2013-05-29
Det Norske Veritas AS. All rights reserved.

Maintaining watertight integrity

In order to ensure sufficient floatability and stability after damage it is vital to
prevent water propagating further through the buoyant parts of the ship.
Damage stability was not a factor in
this famous example
All watertight doors were closed
immediately after impact
The ship sank due to progressive
flooding as water could spill over the
transverse bulkheads
A watertight bulkhead deck would
have delayed (but possibly not
prevented) the sinking
The double bottom was better subdivided than shown here. Unfortunately, the damage was
above the tank top

Damage stability and watertight doors

2013-05-29
Det Norske Veritas AS. All rights reserved.

Flooding through a watertight door Simplified example

The following example shows an estimate of the
amount of water that may pass through an open
watertight door

Theoretical velocity u according to Bernoulli

u0 = 2gH 0
Mean velocity for a mean head of water h

H0
A1

v0

u = u0 Fc h
A2

where Fc represents flow resistance in the opening

Damage stability and watertight doors

2013-05-29
Det Norske Veritas AS. All rights reserved.

Slide 14

Flow using some typical values

Door size 800*2000 mm => Cross-section is 1.6 m2
(Mean cross-section while closing is 0.8 m2)
H

Head of water in the damaged compartment at centre

of the door : 4 m
Flow resistance for the opening (roughly) Fc=0.6
Clear opening
Head of water
Flow resistance

1,60 m2
4,00 m2
0,60 (-)

Ideal velocity uo
Mean velocity u1
Flowrate

8,9 m/s
5,3 m/s
8,5 m3/s

Reaction
Delay for alarm
Door travel time

10 s
10 s
40 s

Sum

An Olympic size swimming pool

contains at least 2500 m3 of
water. At this flowrate it could be
filled in about 5 minutes

340 m3

Note: In real life the head of water will vary with trim and heel and the water level in the
neighbouring compartment(s)
Damage stability and watertight doors
2013-05-29
Det Norske Veritas AS. All rights reserved.

Slide 15

Summing up

Keeping watertight doors closed might be vital to survival

Thank you for your attention!

Damage stability and watertight doors

2013-05-29
Det Norske Veritas AS. All rights reserved.

Slide 16

Safeguarding life, property

and the environment
www.dnv.com

Damage stability and watertight doors

2013-05-29
Det Norske Veritas AS. All rights reserved.

17