Scientific Journals

Zeszyty Naukowe
of the Maritime University of Szczecin Akademii Morskiej w Szczecinie
2017, 51 (123), 71–77
ISSN 1733-8670 (Printed) Received: 26.02.2017
ISSN 2392-0378 (Online) Accepted: 14.08.2017
DOI: 10.17402/233 Published: 15.09.2017

Floodable length of a bulk carrier

Elwira Kałkowska
Maritime University of Szczecin
1-2 Wały Chrobrego St., 70-500 Szczecin, Poland
e-mail: [email protected]

Key words: floodability, floodable length, bulk carrier, allowable floodable length, damage water, bulk carrier
Abstract
With regards to safety, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the International Association of
Classification Societies (IACS) regularly issue regulations and technical standards for the design and construc-
tion of ships in order to safeguard the crew and people on board. In light of these regulations, three issues con-
cerning the properties of a bulk carrier are investigated. Initially the floodability of a bulk carrier is researched
to investigate the largest possible volumes of compartments which can be flooded without causing a bulk carrier
to capsize. The results are determined by means of a marine design software, Maxsurf Enterprise.

Introduction flooding of any one cargo hold in all loading condi-

tions and remain afloat (IMO, 2014b).
According to Ole Skaarup, the designer of the The floodable length is the length of a ship, dis-
modern version of a bulk carrier, “…the most prac- regarding any transverse watertight bulkheads, that,
tical ship should have wide, clear cargo holds. Thus, when flooded, causes the ship to sink or trim to the
it would require machinery aft, wide hatch openings margin line. The margin line is taken to be a mini-
to ease cargo handling and a hold configuration that mum of 76 millimetres (3 inches) below the bulk-
could eliminate the need for shifting boards.” head deck. The bulkhead deck refers to the highest
Due to the loss of bulk carriers at sea, a new reg- point of the transverse bulkheads at which a water-
ulation was added to the International Convention tight deck is situated (Rawson & Tupper, 2001).
for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) regarding
their damage stability. SOLAS Chapter 12, Reg- Floodable length
ulation 4 (IMO, 2009) states that all bulk carriers
over 150 metres long and built after July 1999 must, Figure 1 represents the floodable length of lon-
when loaded to the summer load line, withstand the gitudinal position A. The floodable length can be

Floodable length

Margin line

A B C D
Figure 1. Floodable length of point A

Zeszyty Naukowe Akademii Morskiej w Szczecinie 51 (123) 71

 Elwira Kałkowska

60

50 Allowable
floodable
Floodable length, m length
40

30
Actual
floodable
20 length

10

0
–10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160
Longitudinal position, m

Figure 2. Floodable length curve

calculated for different points longitudinally, such t

 (1)
as points B, C and D, and the results are plotted c
in a Floodable Length Curve where the x-axis rep-
resents the longitudinal length of the ship and the According to SOLAS Chapter II Part B Regu-
y-axis represents the allowable floodable length. lation 25-7 (IMO, 2014a), the permeability for dif-
A ship is subdivided into compartments by water- ferent cargo ships’ compartments should be taken as
tight bulkheads, which limit the floodable length at shown in Table 1.
some locations along its length. Taking this concept
Table 1. Permeabilities of different compartments according
into consideration and bearing in mind that only one to SOLAS Chapter II (IMO, 2014a)
compartment can be flooded, another graph can be
plotted on the same axis showing the actual flood- Space Permeability
able length, as shown in Figure 2. The bases of the Accommodation 0.95
triangles in the graph represent the locations of the Machinery 0.85
watertight bulkheads. The peaks of the triangle Void Space 0.95
represent the actual floodable length in the corre- Dry Cargo Spaces 0.70
sponding compartment. The actual floodable length Liquid Compartments 0.95
can therefore be immediately drawn on a graph if
the bulkhead locations are known since the height Allowable Floodable Length Calculation
of each triangle is equal to the distance between the
respective bulkheads. The following procedure was proposed by Dipl.
If the upper points of the actual floodable length’s Ing. F. Shirokauer (1928) (Lewis, 1988). Supple-
triangles exceed the allowable floodable length, as mentary information is included to clarify Shirokau-
shown by the sixth triangle from the left in Figure 2, er’s method.
the waterline exceeds the margin line and the ship is The allowable floodable lengths at various posi-
considered lost. tions along the ship’s length are obtained by con-
Allowable floodable length curves can be calcu- sidering the bulk carrier at different trims, and with
lated for different ship displacement values. A great- a draught at which the margin line touches the water
er displacement, which is relative to a ship having line. The seawater which floods a compartment is
a higher draught, tends to lower the allowable flood- called damage water, and every trim is caused by
able length values for the whole graph, whilst less having a mass of damage water with its centre of
displacement raises the allowable floodable length, gravity (COG) a distance away from amidships. The
meaning that more water volume is needed for the weight of the damage water causes a moment about
vessel’s margin line to reach the waterline (Rawson the ship’s longitudinal centre of gravity (LCG), caus-
& Tupper, 2001; Tupper, 2004). ing the ship to trim. The floodable length is therefore
Furthermore, the compartments’ permeability (μ) the length of flooded compartment needed at a par-
plays an important role in calculating the floodable ticular longitudinal position to cause the vessel to
length. The permeability is the ratio of the floodable heave down and trim until the margin line touches
volume (υt) to the total compartment volume (υc): the waterline.

72 Scientific Journals of the Maritime University of Szczecin 51 (123)

 Floodable length of a bulk carrier

The first part of this method involves finding: 4) Points on the AP and FP are marked at distanc-
• the volume of the damage water; and es H/3, 2H/3, 5H/6 and H away from the paral-
• the distance between a vessel’s COG and amid- lel trim line, as shown in Figure 3. According to
ships. Shirokauer (Lewis, 1988), the value is given by
• The second part entails finding: equation (3):
• the length of the compartment which holds the
H = 1.6 Dm – 1.5 T0 (3)
volume of damage water, i.e. the floodable length;
and where: Dm – depth from keel to margin line (m).
• the location of the compartment’s midpoint. 5) From these points, trim lines tangent to the mar-
Each trim line will therefore result in one flood- gin line are drawn. The forward trim lines are
able length value and its corresponding longitudi- named 1F, 2F, 2.5F and 3, while the trim lines
nal position. A variety of trim lines must be tested having a trim by the aft are named 1A, 2A, 2.5F
in order to get a sufficient number of points to plot and 3A, as displayed in Figure 3.
a graph such as Figure 2. 6) For each trim line:
The third and final part of this method involves i. The cross-sectional area at each ordinate up to
finding the floodable length curve’s aft and forward the trim line is found using the vessel’s Bon-
endpoints. jean curves.
ii. The volume of damage water is the volume
Part 1: Damage Water of water which is added to the ship at the ini-
tial waterline. It is, therefore, the difference
1) The vessel is divided longitudinally into a num- between the displaced volume of the trimmed
ber of transverse sections between the aft per- ship and the initial volume displacement:
pendicular (AP) and forward perpendicular (FP).
υt = ∇t – ∇0 (4)
Figure 3 shows a vessel split into ordinates 0 to
10 having a spacing found by equation (2). iii. The moment of the area about amidships is
calculated using Simpson’s rule. Section 5
LBT
S (2) is the amidships; therefore, the application
10 of Simpson’s rule are taken about Section 5.
2) The initial draught at which the floodable length The distance between the LCG of the ship and
is investigated is drawn and denoted by T0. The amidships is denoted by xt .
underwater transverse cross-sectional areas at iv. The damage water causes the ship to trim,
each ordinate are read from the vessel’s Bonjean causing the initial LCG (G0) to move to a new
curves. Simpson’s rule, thus equation, is applied position (G1), as shown in Figure 4. Taking
to calculate the ship’s initial displaced volume at moments about, the distance can be found by:
the initial waterline, and is denoted by ∇0.
t x   0 G0G1 
3) A trim line is drawn parallel to the initial water
line at the lowest point of the margin line. It is 0
x  G0G1  (5)
denoted as PAR in Figure 3. This trim line rep- t
resents the ship on an even keel, and having the 0
deck almost touching the waterline. x  xt  x0 
t

Figure 3. Vessel split into sections 0 to 10. Various trim lines are drawn on the ship’s profile

Zeszyty Naukowe Akademii Morskiej w Szczecinie 51 (123) 73

 Elwira Kałkowska

Figure 4. Moment caused by damage water

Figure 4 indicates that the distance between the 4) The compartment volume (υc) is divided by
COG of damage water and amidships is: an approximate mean section area to find an
assumed floodable length (l1). The length is sub-
xw  xt  x (6)
divided into five ordinates, which are represented
Substituting (5) for (6): by numbers 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4, as seen in Figure 5.
0 5) Using Simpson’s rule with five ordinates:
xw  xt  xt  x0  (7) i. The spacing (S) of the ordinates is found by equa-
t tion S = l/n.
7) υt and xw for each trim line are plotted on a graph ii. The five section areas at each ordinate are read
against the respective trim. from the vessel’s curve of areas at that specif-
ic trim and draught. The curve of areas may be
Part 2: Floodable Lengths obtained using the Hydrostatics module of Max-
surf’s Stability.
The following method is repeated for every trim iii. The volume of this compartment, denoted by υc1,
line in the test. is calculated by equation:
1) Taking permeability into consideration, the flood-
S
ed compartment volume is found by: volume 
volume  A0  4 A1  2 A2    4 An1  An  .
3

c  t (8) υc1 may not be equal to the volume of damage

water because the floodable length was calculat-
where μ – permeability of the compartment. ed using an assumed mean section area.
2) The COG of the damage water is represented iv. An improved estimation of the floodable length,
in Figure 5. An arbitrary value is taken between denoted by l2, can be found by simple proportion
the damage water COG and the midlength of the where:
flooded compartment, and is denoted by xm1. l2 l1 l1
3) xc1 is found by:  , l2  c (10)
c c1 c1
xc1 = xw – xm1 (9)

Figure 5. Flooded compartment at a specific trim by the aft

74 Scientific Journals of the Maritime University of Szczecin 51 (123)

 Floodable length of a bulk carrier

v. An improved estimation of xm1, denoted by xm2, 2) Two compartments, A and B, with length of
is calculated by finding the location of the com- ' and " respectively from the AP are considered,
partment’s COG, denoted by G1 in Figure 6. The as shown in Figure 7. Table 2 lists the compart-
compartment’s COG should fall on position G ments’ properties.
but, since the value of xm1, was an assumption,
Table 2. Assumed compartments A and B properties
the compartment’s COG – i.e. the damage water
COG – might not fall exactly on G. Compartment A B
6) An improved value for xc is found by: Length l' (< la) l" (> la)
xc2 = xw – xm2 (11) Volume υ'c υ"c
Distance from amidships
7) Steps 4–6 may be repeated using l2 and xc2 as l1 to compartment’s COG x'w x"w
and xc1 respectively. Iterations may halt when the Damage water volume in compartment μυ'c μυ"c
values υc1 ≈ υc and the compartment’s COG fall
approximately on point G, which is xw away from l"
la
amidships. l'
3A

COMPT. B
COMPT. A
AP (WL) x"w
x'w

Figure 7. Endpoint calculation (Lewis, 1988)

3) The two compartments are sectioned into five

ordinates and, using Simpson’s rule with five
ordinates, the COG of each compartment is cal-
culated, thus finding the values of x'w and x"w.
Figure 6. Floodable length calculation 4) On the graph plotted in the final step of Part 1:
Damage Water which has the values of xw and
Part 3: End Point Calculation υt against their respective trimlines, the damage
water volumes μυ'c and μυ"c are located on the
Generally, the floodable length for trim lines damage water volume curve, and two vertical
3A and 3F cannot be found because the calculat- lines are drawn in order to find the respective trim
ed compartment length will be partially outside the values.
length of the ship. This condition implies that for 5) On the μυ'c vertical line, a marker is drawn at the
a ship at the initial water line value, there exists no value of x'w. Similarly, on the μυ"c vertical line,
floodable compartment which makes the ship trim another marker is drawn at the value x"w.
to 3A or 3F. 6) The two marked points are joined by a straight
This is an indication that the aft endpoint on the line cutting the curve of the LCG of the damage
graph corresponds to a trim line between 2.5A and water. The point of intersection corresponds to
3A. Similarly, the forward endpoint occurs at a trim the trim line for the end point of the floodable
between 2.5F and 3F. The trims at which the end- length curve. The corresponding value of damage
points fall are unknown, but close to 3F and 3A; water volume, μυc, is read from the graph, and
therefore, Shirokauer (Lewis, 1988) suggests that is divided by the compartment’s permeability to
the sectional areas considered in the endpoint calcu- find the volume of compartment, υc.
lations are those from trim lines 3F and 3A. 7) The correct floodable length, l, of the endpoint is
1) Considering the aft end of the ship, thus trim line found by linear interpolation:
3A: c  c
Using the trend of the floodable length curve, l  l  l  l (12)
a reasonably close estimate of the floodable
c  c
length at the end points can be obtained. The esti- 8) All the calculations undertaken only take into
mated floodable length is denoted by la. consideration the longitudinal distance between

Zeszyty Naukowe Akademii Morskiej w Szczecinie 51 (123) 75

 Elwira Kałkowska

the AP and FP. However, the floodable length floodable length curve shows that the least flood-
curve constitutes the whole length of the ship. able length is that of cargo hold 1; therefore, spe-
Figure 8 shows the distance between the extreme cial attention should be given by a naval architect
aft end of the ship and the AP, denoted by α. The when designing the structure of this particular car-
total floodable length of the aft endpoint is the go hold.
calculated floodable length added to the extra An improvement to this design would be to
length away from the perpendicular: split cargo hold 1 into two cargo holds separat-
ed by a watertight bulkhead. This design would
laft_endpoint = l + α (13)
ensure more safety since the allowable floodable
length would be reduced by half, as shown in Fig-
ure 9.
Nowadays most bulk carriers are constructed
with a double skin on their side and, according to
IMO regulations, with a double bottom. It is there-
fore becoming more unlikely that a bulk carrier will
be flooded because if a bulk carrier bilges its hull
by hitting an obstacle, the tank on the bottom or the
Figure 8. Aft section of a bulk carrier vessel’s side will be flooded rather than the cargo
hold, unless the hit is so severe that the damage man-
The same procedure is repeated to find the end- ages to penetrate the double-sided hull (Kałkowska,
point at the forward end of the ship. Similarly, the 2017).
corrected floodable length for the forward endpoint
must be added to the distance between the FP and References
the forward extreme of the vessel, denoted by β,
1. IMO (2009) SOLAS 1974, Regulation 14. In: SOLAS: con-
therefore: solidated text of the International Convention for the Safety
lfwd_endpoint = l + β (14) of Life at Sea, 1974, and its Protocol of 1988: articles, an-
nexes, and certificates, Consolidated ed. 2009, 5th ed. Lon-
Results don: International Maritime Organization.
2. IMO (2014a) Chapter II – Structure, Subdivision and Stabil-
ity, Machinery and Electrical Installations – Part B-1 – Sub-
The two aft compartments, which consist of the division and Damage Stability of Cargo Ships. In: SOLAS,
aft peak and the engine room, can both be flooded International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974,
without the vessel being considered lost. Similarly, and its Protocol of 1988, Sixth edition, London: Internation-
cargo holds 4 and 5 can be flooded simultaneously, al Maritime Organization.
3. IMO (2014b) Chapter XII – Additional Safety Measures for
as can cargo holds 3 and 4. Bulk Carriers. In: SOLAS, International Convention for the
The graph gives an indication of which com- Safety of Life at Sea, 1974, and its Protocol of 1988, Sixth
partment is the most dangerous to flood. The actual edition. London: International Maritime Organization.

Actual floodable length

Allowable floodable length (1 compartment flooded)
Allowable floodable length (2 compartments flooded)
Floodable length (m)

Longitundal position from AP (m)

Figure 9. Allowable floodable length

76 Scientific Journals of the Maritime University of Szczecin 51 (123)

 Floodable length of a bulk carrier

4. Kałkowska, E. (2017) Intact stability of a bulk carrier. Architecture, 2nd revision (3rd ed.), Jersey City: Society of
Scientific Journals of the Maritime University of Szczecin, Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, pp. 152–159.
Zeszyty Naukowe Akademii Morskiej w Szczecinie 49 (121), 6. Rawson, K.J. & Tupper, E.C. (2001) Basic Ship Theory.
pp. 65–68. Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann.
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Zeszyty Naukowe Akademii Morskiej w Szczecinie 51 (123) 77