Document No: P

CMU/ OICNW & OINEW Year 1

TITLE: Revision No.: 00 R
BASIC SHIP STABILITY – Course Material Chapter 1- 1
Displacement

1 Displacement

1.1 For a ship to float it must displace a certain volume of water. The volume of the
displaced water must be equal to the underwater volume of the ship. The weight
of this displaced water will be equal to the weight of the ship. The ship will
experience an up thrust equal to the mass of the ship. Consider the formula:
ρ = m/v
Where ρ is the density of the water, m is the mass of the ship and v is the
underwater volume of the ship (and also the volume of the water displaced).

Consider now a rectangular barge of mass 2 tonnes and volume 4 m3 totally

immersed in fresh water. The barge will displace 4 m 3 of water. The mass of this
displaced water will be 4 tonnes. The barge of mass 2 tonnes will then experience
an up thrust of 4 tonnes until equilibrium is reached where the volume of water
displaced is 2 tonnes (the mass of the barge). This will occur when the barge is
floating with half its body above the water.

1.2 Consider also a rectangular barge, it can be seen from the formula above that if
the density of the water is increased while keeping the weight of the barge
constant, then the underwater volume of the barge must decrease.

The underwater volume of the barge is given by

V= Lx B x d
Where V is the underwater volume of the barge, L is the length of the barge and d
the draft of the barge. In order to reduce the underwater volume of the barge it
would not be possible to reduce L or B so d, the draft of the barge, will be
reduced. This means that the barge sailing from a fresh water river out to open sea
where the water is denser would float higher (with a reduced draft) when it gets to
sea.

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 Document No: P
CMU/ OICNW & OINEW Year 1
TITLE: Revision No.: 00 R
BASIC SHIP STABILITY – Course Material Chapter 1- 1
Displacement

Figure 1.1 Change of mass, displacement and draft

Consider again the same barge alongside the dock and cargo is loaded on to it.
Here the density ρ remains constant but m has increased and so V must also
increase. Again L and B will not change so d must increase i.e. the draft of the
barge will increase. These same principles can be applied to a ship although the
shape of the underwater volume of the ship will be of irregular form.

1.3 The displacement of a vessel can be defined as its mass measured in tonnes. This
mass includes the ship itself and everything onboard such as cargo, fuel,
freshwater, ballast and stores.

1.4 The displacement of a vessel is represented by the symbol ∆ .

1.5 As explained in 1.1 as cargo is added to a ship the draft will increase. It is
therefore possible to draw a graph to show the relationship between the mean
draft of the ship and the displacement. Fig. 1.2 shows such a graph. Notice that
the graph is not a straight line. This is because of the irregular shape of the hull of
the ship.

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 Document No: P
CMU/ OICNW & OINEW Year 1
TITLE: Revision No.: 00 R
BASIC SHIP STABILITY – Course Material Chapter 1- 1
Displacement

Figure1. 2 Displacement /draft curve

1.6 From the graph in Fig. 1.2 find the following:

 The displacement of the vessel when the mean draft is 2.40m

 The mean draft of the vessel when the displacement is 400 tonnes.

 The new mean draft of the ship given that the initial displacement of the vessel is
400 tonnes and 25 tonnes of cargo is discharged from the holds.

1.7 Deadweight is the weight in tonnes of things onboard the ship which are not part
of the ship itself. These include things such as cargo, ballast, fuel, freshwater and

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 Document No: P
CMU/ OICNW & OINEW Year 1
TITLE: Revision No.: 00 R
BASIC SHIP STABILITY – Course Material Chapter 1- 1
Displacement

stores. Deadweight would be the displacement of the ship minus the weight of the
ship. Cargo deadweight is the weight of the cargo onboard.

1.8 As the deadweight of a ship increases the draft of the ship will increase. It is
therefore possible to create a scale showing the relationship between the draft and
the deadweight. Figure 1.3 shows such a scale.

Figure 1.3 Deadweight scale

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 Document No: P
CMU/ OICNW & OINEW Year 1
TITLE: Revision No.: 00 R
BASIC SHIP STABILITY – Course Material Chapter 1- 1
Displacement

Using the scale in Figure 1.3, find the following:

 The draft of the vessel when the deadweight is 400 tonnes

 The deadweight of the vessel when the draft is 1.80m

 The amount of cargo loaded given that before loading cargo the vessel’s draft
was1.0m and after loading cargo the draft was 2.10m

1.9 Tonnes Per Centimeter Immersion (TPC) is the mass in tonnes required to be
loaded or discharged in order to change the mean draft of a vessel in salt water by
1 centimeter.

1.10 The TPC of a ship is not a constant but varies with draft and the shape of its
underwater volume. As the draft of a ship changes, the shape of the underwater
volume will change hence the TPC will change.

1.11 Because the TPC changes with the draft, it is possible to create a scale showing
the relationship between the draft and TPC. Such a scale is shown in Figure 1.3.

Using the scale in Figure 1.3 find the following:

The TPC when the draft is 1.6 m

1.12 Using the scale in Figure 1.3 find the following:

 The final draft of the vessel after loading 78 tonnes of cargo when the
draft of the vessel before loading was 1.50m

 The amount of cargo to be discharged form the vessel in order to make the
draft 2.00 m, given that the draft before discharging was 2.45 m

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 Document No: P
CMU/ OICNW & OINEW Year 1
TITLE: Revision No.: 00 R
BASIC SHIP STABILITY – Course Material Chapter 1- 1
Displacement

Mass of additional part of water = Volume of that part × Density

TPC (in tonnes) = (WPA × Density)/100

 Now, density of fresh water and sea water is not same. That’s why TPC is
different for fresh water and sea water.
 Density of fresh water and sea water are 1 t/m³ and 1.025 t/m³ respectively.
 So, higher the density, higher will be TPC.
 TPC (sea water) > TPC (fresh water).
 And for the same density areas TPC is directly proportional to the Water Plane
Area (WPA).

TPC Curve

TPC Curve

 It’s a draught versus TPC curve.

 At different draughts, variations in WPA cause variations in TPC.
 Area between the TPC curve and the draught axis represents the displacement of
the ship at particular draught.
 Centroid of TPC curve represents the vertical position of the centre of buoyancy.

Effects of Loading and Discharging

 Addition of substances (Loading) and removal of substance (Discharging) affects
the draught and hence TPC.
 Increase or decrease of draught is also called as sinkage or rise respectively.
 Simply, addition of weight causes sinkage and removal of weight causes rise.
 It is calculated as increase or decrease of draft in centimetres.
 Sinkage/Rise = (mass add or discharge)/TPC.

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 Document No: P
CMU/ OICNW & OINEW Year 1
TITLE: Revision No.: 00 R
BASIC SHIP STABILITY – Course Material Chapter 1- 1
Displacement

Examples.

1. The water plane area of a ship is 1730 m³. Calculate the TPC and the increase in
draught if a mass of 270 tonne is added to the ship.

TPC (in tonnes) = (WPA × Density)/100

Assumption : Ship is sailing in a sea-water. That’s why density is 1.025 t/m³.
TPC = (1730 × 1.025)/100
= 17.73
Increase in draught (in cms.) = (Added mass)/TPC
= (270/17.73)
=15.23 cms

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 Document No: P
CMU/ OICNW & OINEW Year 1
TITLE: Revision No.: 00 R
BASIC SHIP STABILITY – Course Material Chapter 1- 1
Displacement

BASIC SHIP STABILITY

Exercise 1

1 A ship arrives in port with a mean draft of 6.50m and a TPC of 10. The vessel must
discharge cargo to make her draft 4.2 m in order to enter the next port safely.
Calculate the amount of cargo to be discharged in order to reach the required draft.

2 A box-shaped barge 35 m x 3 m x 4 m displaces 90 tonnes when light. If 180 tonnes

of cargo is loaded while the barge is floating in fresh water, find her final draft.

3 A box shaped barge displaces 7.2 tonnes. Its dimensions are 7.5 m x 2.5 m x 1 m.
Find the draft of the barge when floating in fresh water.

4 A rectangular tank 3 m x 1.2 m x 0.6 m has no lid and is floating in fresh water at a
draft of 15 cm. Calculate the minimum amount of fresh water which must be poured
into the tank to sink it.

5 A vessel of 3500 tonnes displacement carries out operations as follows:

2000 tonnes of cargo is discharged

50 tonnes of ballast is loaded.
25 tonnes of fuel is loaded.
If the light ship displacement is 300 tonnes find the final deadweight of the ship
after the operation.

6. A box shaped vessel of dimensions 40 m x 12 m x 5 m floats at a draft of 3.00 m

in salt water. Calculate:

(i) The light ship displacement.

(ii) The TPC of the vessel.

(iii) The amount of cargo to be loaded on to the vessel to make the draft 3.50
m.