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Inclining Experiment 111

The document provides details on conducting an inclining experiment to determine a vessel's lightship parameters, including displacement, longitudinal and vertical centers of gravity. It describes: 1) Preparing the vessel by inspecting for loose equipment, ensuring tanks are empty, and attaching a pendulum. 2) Conducting a series of trials by moving known weights port and starboard while recording pendulum readings. 3) Calculating vessel stability metrics like metacentric height (GM) using the weight, distance moved, pendulum length, and measured angle of inclination from the trials.

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Rahul Phadake
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117 views7 pages

Inclining Experiment 111

The document provides details on conducting an inclining experiment to determine a vessel's lightship parameters, including displacement, longitudinal and vertical centers of gravity. It describes: 1) Preparing the vessel by inspecting for loose equipment, ensuring tanks are empty, and attaching a pendulum. 2) Conducting a series of trials by moving known weights port and starboard while recording pendulum readings. 3) Calculating vessel stability metrics like metacentric height (GM) using the weight, distance moved, pendulum length, and measured angle of inclination from the trials.

Uploaded by

Rahul Phadake
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Inclining Experiment

Objective
The purpose of a stability test is to determine the lightship parameters of a vessel, from which
the stability characteristics can be determined for each condition of loading, principally:
Lightship displacement of the vessel;

Longitudinal centre of gravity; and

Vertical centre of gravity.

Definitions
For the purpose of this Annex, the following shall apply:
Lightship
Displacement () is the quantity of water displaced by the vessel expressed in tonnes (1
tonne = 1000kg). 1
Freeboard is the vertical distance from the water surface to the upper surface at side of deck.
Transverse Metacentre If a vessel is inclined transversely through a small angle, the centre of
buoyancy B will move slightly from the middle to towards the side, say B2 A verticle line
through B 2 will cut the vertical centre line at the point M, the transverse metacentre.
Metacentric Height GM in any condition of loading is the distance between the transverse
metacentre and the centre of gravity of the vessel, in the condition of loading under
consideration.

Preparation for the experiment


Inspection
The vessel must be inspected and notes made of the distribution and weight of any temporary
material or equipment on board that can not be removed at the time. All tanks should be
inspected to ensure that they are empty. This should not present the inspector with a problem
if the vessel is a new vessel at delivery stage. However, if the vessel is operational, if it is not
possible to empty the tanks, they should be topped up to ensure that there would be no free
surface effect during the experiment.
Oil in crankcases and hydraulic oil systems are acceptable, but the levels in oil reservoirs
should be carefully controlled.
The bilge should be dry as should all ballast spaces.
The vessel should be on an even keel. If it is not, weights can be added and their position
recorded both horizontally and vertically (and of course, the actual weight recorded).
Mooring
Since the weather must be good, sea flat calm and no wind, light mooring lines should be
used. Ensure that moorings are not so tight that they restrict vessel movement. The vessel
must be well clear of the quay and should not be in danger of touching the bottom during the
experiment.

The volume of water displace in cubic metres would be multiplied by 1.o25 if floating in sea water
but since the density changes depending upon the place the experiment is conducted, the density must
also be measured at the time of the experiment..

Measurement of freeboard
The measurement of the freeboard is most important. The measurements should be make from
a small boat or skiff and without touching the vessel in a way that would cause it to roll or
pitch. Anyone on board should stay on the centre line and not move about.
Pendulum arrangement
If it is not possible to have more than one pendulum due to the size of the vessel, it should be
located as close to amidships as possible and on the centerline.
The pendulum should not be too short otherwise it would be difficult to accurately measure
the deflection. Even in a small vessel it should not be less than 2 metres in length, but the
longer, the better. The intention is to get a reasonable measurement at small angles of heel
(not less than 2 and not more than 4.
The longer the pendulum the longer the measuring board. The position of the centre mark "0"
is important and if a metre stick or ruler is used, ensure that the zero mark selected will not
cause confusing when measuring Port and Starboard measurements. Alternatively, a piece of
paper can be pinned to the board and marked accordingly; this if fact provides more
substantive evidence of the experiment.
The weight at the end of the pendulum should lie within a damping liquid. The most effective
is to use a tray filled with light lubricating oil placed below the measuring board.
Provision of weights/weight measurement
Suitable weights should be selected that are easily moved by one or two persons and they
should ideally, be equal in weight. It is possible to use persons for this purpose provided that
they are each weighed and the when they are asked to move, they do so in sequence. The
position of the weights (or persons) should be marked on the deck and the measurements from
the centre line recorded.

Experiment

Vessel Name Place .

Date.. Time .

Water density .............................


Moving weights to Port

Center

Moving weights to Starboard

0/4

0/3

0/2

0/1

=/-

=/-

0/1

0/2

0/3

0/4

1/4

1/3

1/2

1/1

+/-

1/0

+/-

1/1

1/2

1/3

1 / 4

2/4

2/3

2/2

2/1

+/-

2/0

+/-

2/1

2/2

2/3

2/4

Officer in charge .........................................................................

Phase 1
The key points of reference demonstrated
in figure 1 all lie one under the other.
These are:
K Point at the keel

B Centre of buoyancy

Centre of gravity

Metacentre

Figure 1
The inclining test

The height KB can be obtained from the


displacement tables.2

With the vessel steady (no movement of


persons on board) record the measurement
or mark the zero point in line with the
pendulum. Call this Experiment 0

G
B

Figure 2
Experiment 0

A B

Move weight A from the Port side to the


Starboard side over weight C If weights
are moved by hand, ensure that the carriers
go back to the centre line and remain still.
When the vessel settles, mark the position
of the pendulum line 1 or measure the
deflection and write the result in the log.

Figure 3
Experiment 1

This is useful to detect any problems in the


exercise. Call this Experiment 1.

Move weight B to the Starboard side


over weight D. When the vessel is
steady, mark the position of the pendulum.
At this point, the angle of inclination must
not be more than 4 (preferably about 3)

C D

A
C D

Figure 5
Experiment 2

Call this Experiment 2.


A B
C D

In some cases it may be necessary to lift


lines from the vessel prior to inclining the
vessel in order to develop the displacement
table.

Figure 6
The position of the key reference points
now differ from Figure 1.

The inclining test

B and C are no longer in line and the


righting lever G Z can be clearly seen.

M
G

Z
B

Figure 7
Experiment 3

A B

C D

Move weights A and B back to the


their original positions on the Port side
and when all is steady, mark the position
of the pendulum 4 which is Zero but it
may not coincide with the original Zero
position (or enter the measurement in the
log).
Call this Experiment 3

Figure 8
Experiment 4

C
A B

Move the weight C and to the Port side


and place it over weight A. When
settled, mark the position No. 5 or enter
the measurement in the log.
As before, this will help to determine if
there are any problems occurring due to
wind, touching bottom etc. Call this
Experiment 4.

Experiment 5

C D
A B

Place weight D over weight B and


when all ism settled, mark the board No. 6
or enter the distance moved from the new
Zero position in the log.
Call this Experiment 5.

Move weights C and D back to their


original positions on the Starboard side.
Mark the new Zero position if not the
same as before or enter the distance
moved by the pendulum from position No.
6.

Figure 8
Experiment 6

Distance between weights

Call this Experiment 6.

A B

C D
Pendulum length

Freeboard

Deviation

Repeat the movement of the weights at


least three times making sure that the next
set of marks are clearly separated from the
first sequence and always being careful to
record the correct Zero position.
Figure 9
The freeboard must be measured. This
should be done as accurately as possible
and patience is required, particularly if the
water tends to lap the side of the hull. The
key points are:

ford

amidships P and S

aft.

At the same time, the draft can be measure


and this will provide a check on the
accuracy of the draft marks.

Water

line

Base line

Tangent
2
1
Healing moment
3

4
5
In the example given in the description of the inclining experiment, two weights per side are
used but in practice 3-4 aside would be common and for small vessels, probably 3 persons per
side. If the healing moment is calculated for each change of weight, the result can be plotted
on a graph. If all is well, after all weights have been moved (and results plotted) the line
through the plots should be reasonably straight. If not, the reasons could be too strong a wind
or touching the bottom or the moorings are having an effect. Unless the fault is cured, the
experiment should be abandoned.
Calculation
In the experiment described above, (drawn from an actual experiment) the following data was
logged:
Weight moved (w)

The four weights used measure 87...kg each

Distance moved by the weight. (d)

2.708

Length of pendulum (l)

1.690 m

Displacement

29.579 Tons

The deflection of the pendulum being recorded as follows:


Experiment No.

Measurement from
metre stick on baton

Deflection of Pendulum

100

01

113

13 mm weight A to B

02

129

16 mm weight B to D

03

97

32 weights A+B returned to Port side


positions (2 moves)

04

80

17 mm weight C to

05

68

12 mm weight D to B

06

97

29 mm weights C +D returned to Starboard


side (2 moves)

Total deflection 119mm

Mean deflection

14.874mm

To obtain GM
Solving for GM:

GM = .w x. d
tan
or
GM =w x d x l

Note that KM is constant for a particular draft and can be obtained from the vessels curves of
form and GM is obtained from the experiment noting also that KG = KM - GM
Thus to find the GM from the experiment given in the example,
GM = 87.23 x 2.708 x 1.69
29597 x 0.014874
Thus, GM = 0.907 m

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