What is the waterplane area of a ship and why are we

concerned about this?

The WP area of a ship is the area of the hull at which draft the vessel is afloat. For a box
shaped vsl it would simply be the LxB. As it is not symmetrical for a ship, it is calculated by a
formula known as Simpsons rules which provides the area for ship shapes.

The WP area is used to calculate the displacement of the vessel for different drafts & also to
determine the Longitudinal center of flotation, TPC (Tonnes per cm) for immersion; the
formula for which is dxA/100 where d is the density of the water in which the vsl is afloat &
A is the waterplane area at that draft.

It is normally calculated by the shipyard at the time of ship building & provided in tabulated
form in the ships stability calculation booklet.

Water-Plane Area Calcuations using Simpson's First Rule

Finding the area of a water plane is one of the important topics that you will learn in the ship stability
course. You will be using Simpson's Rules for finding areas under a curve for this purpose. There are
three different variations of this rule. We will review them one by one.

Simpson's Rules use ordinates to calculate the waterplane area. The rules also require that one side of
the area we are trying to calculate must be a straight line.

First of all let us recall that an ordinate is the y-coordinate of a point which defines the vertical distance
from a horizontal axis.
When calculating water plane areas, an ordinate is the vertical distance between two points on the water
plane, as shown in the diagram below.
The midline will divide the ordinates in two equal parts. Hence the ordinates on either side of the midline
are refered to as half ordinates or semi-ordinates.

The shape of the water plane is symmetrical about the midline, therefore it will be sufficient to calculate
the area of one half of the shape and then double the answer to find the total area. The midline satisfies
the straight line boundary requirement of Simpson's Rules.

The following steps are common for all three versions of Simpson's Rules:
1. Divide the water plane into two halves using the midline.
2. Choose one half to work with.
3. Sub-divide the chosen half into area strips or sections of equal width, 'h'.
4. Based on the number of area sections and hence the number of half ordinates, choose which
version of Simpson's rules to apply.
5. In some cases you may have to combine two rules to calculate an area.

Simpson's First Rule

This rule is also called the 3-ordinate rule because you need at least three ordinates to be able to apply
this rule.
When you have an even number of strips and hence an odd number of half ordinates, you can use
Simpson's First Rule.

If a given curve can be divided into an even number of strips of equal width, then the area under the
curve can be found using the formula for Simpson's First Rule:

For 3 ordinates y 1 , y 2  and y 3  equally spaced at h units:  A= h 3 ( y 1 +4 y 2 + y 3 ) For 5 ordinates 
y 1 , y 2 , y 3 , y 4  and y 5 : A= h 3 ( y 1 +4 y 2 +2 y 3 +4 y 4 + y 5 ) For 7 ordinates:  A= h 3 ( y 1 +4 
y 2 +2 y 3 +4 y 4 +2 y 5 +4 y 6 + y 7 ) and so on...

Note that 'h' is also called the common interval or CI, and represents the width of each of the area
sections or strips.

Let's try an example to better understand how to use this formula:

Example 1: The length of a ship's water-plane area is 70 m. The lengths of the

equidistantly spaced half ordinates commencing from forward are as follows:          0,
5.2, 6.4, 7.0, 6.0, 4.9, 0.3
Find the area of the water-plane.

Solution:

First of all, we need to check if we can apply Simpson's First Rule to calculate the area: 
Number of ordinates = 7 and since 7 is an odd number, we can use Simpson's First Rule to find the area
of this water-plane. 
Next, let us find the value of the common interval 'h' which can be calculated by dividing the length of
the water-plane (70m) by the number of area sections (6):h= 70 m 6 =11.7 m
The following figure will help us visually represent the information:

Half-ordinates Simpson's Multiplier Area Function

(1) (2) (3)=(1)x(2)
0 1 0
5.2 4 20.8
6.4 2 12.8
7.0 4 28.0
6.0 2 12.0
4.9 4 19.6
0.3 1 0.3
93.23
(Total)  Σ 1

Table 5.1

As noted above, the Simpson's First Rule formula requires that we multiply the half-ordinates by a series
of constants calledSimpson's Multipliers.
For 3 ordinates, the Simpson's Multipliers are 1, 4, 1.
For 5 ordinates, the Simpson's Multipliers are 1, 4, 2, 4, 1.
For 7 ordinates, the Simpson's Multipliers are 1, 4, 2, 4, 2, 4, 1.

For 9 ordinates, the Simpson's Multipliers are 1, 4, 2, 4, 2, 4, 2, 4, 1.

For 11 or more ordinates, the same pattern of multiplier values is applied.

Table 5.1 shows the half-ordinate values and their corresponding multipliers for this example.

For each half-ordinate, an Area Function is calculated by multiplying the half-ordinate by its
corresponding Simpson's Multiplier. Then, a Total Area Function is calcuated by summing the individual
area functions. The Total Area Function for this example is 93.23, as shown on Table 5.1

Finally, we apply the First Rule formula to calculate the area of half of the water-plane, as bounded by
the curve and the midline. Note that in the calculation below we then multiply the formula by 2 in order
to obtain the entire water-plane area, since the area caluculated using Simpson's First Rule is for one half
of the ship's water-plane area.

Area of the water-plane = 2× h 3 × Σ 1 =2× 11.7 m 3 ×93.23 m=727.2   m 2

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Example 2: Find the area of a water-plane which is 72 metres long, using Simpson's
First Rule with the following half-ordinates commencing from forward:         0.2, 2.2, 5.0,
5.8, 6.0, 5.9, 4.9, 2.0, 0.2

Solution:

We are given 9 half-ordinates and therefore we can use Simpson's First Rule to calculate this water-plane
area. 
Find the value of "h" : 
h= 72 8 =9 mDraw a diagram:

Complete the table:

Half-ordinates Simpson's Multiplier Area Function
 (1) (2) (3)=(1)x(2)
0.2 1 0.2
2.2 4 8.8
5.0 2 10.0
5.8 4 23.2
6.0 2 12.0
5.9 4 23.6
4.9 2 9.8
2.0 4 8.0
0.2 1 0.2
95.8
(Total)  Σ 1

Table 5.2

Calculate the area:Area of the water-plane =  2 × h 3 × Σ 1 = 2 × 9   m 3 × 95.8   m = 574.8     m 2

Note that in the above calculation we must multiply by 2 in order to obtain the entire water-plane area,
since the area caluculated using Simpson's First Rule is for one half of the ship's water-plane area.

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Example 3: The lengths of the half-ordinates of an 80 m long water-plane commencing

from forward as follows:         0, 3.6, 5.0, 5.3, 4.8, 0.5 
There is a 2.8 m long half-ordinate right midway between the last two half-ordinates.
Find the area of the water-plane.

Solution:
In this case there are two different values of 'h' to consider. The green area (Area 1) has 4 strips whose
'h' value is twice that of the 2 strips in the blue area (Area 2). To obtain the total water-plane area, we
can divide the water-plane into 2 parts, apply Simpson's First Rule separately to each partial area, and
then add the results to get the total area of water-plane.

Area 1:
Find the value of h :h= 80 m 5 =16 m
Complete the table :
 Half-ordinates Simpson's Multiplier Area Function
(1) (2) (3)=(1)*(2)
0 1 0
3.6 4 14.4
5.0 2 10.0
5.3 4 21.2
4.8 1 4.8
50.4
(Total)  Σ 1

Calculate the partial green area (Area 1):Area  = 2× h 3 × Σ 1 =2× 16 m 3 ×50.4 m=537.6   m 2

Area 2: 
Find the value of h :h= 16 m 2 =8 mComplete the table:

Half-ordinates Simpson's Multiplier Area Function

(1) (2) (3)=(1)*(2)
4.8 1 4.8
2.8 4 11.2
0.5 1 0.5
16.5
(Total)  Σ 2

Calculate the partial blue area (Area 2):Area  = 2× h 3 × Σ 2 =2× 8 m 3 ×16.5 m=88   m 2Hence,Total 

Area=Area 1+Area 2=537.6  m 2 +88  m 2 =625.6  m 2
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Coefficients of Form – Ship’s

Waterplane, Block, Midship and
Prismatic Coefficient
he Coefficient of Form shows the relationship between the actual form of the ship and
the dimensions of the ship.

Waterplane Area Coefficient (Cw)

It is the ratio of the actual area of the waterplane to the product of the length and
breadth of the ship.

As seen below, the area of the ship’s waterplane is shown shaded and a rectangle
having the same length and breadth of the ship:

Coefficient of fineness (Cw) = Area of waterplane ÷ (Length x Breadth)

Example: 
Q. Find the area of the waterplane of a ship 200 meters long, 30 meters beam, which
has a coefficient of fineness of 0.800?
Ans. Area of waterplane = L x B x Cw
Area of waterplane = 200 x 30 x 0.8
Aw = 4800 sq m

Midship Section Area Coefficient (Cm)

It is the ratio of the actual area of the immersed portion of the ship’s midship section to
the product of the breadth and the draught of the ship.

As seen below the shaded portion represents the area of the midships section to the
waterline
WL, enclosed in a rectangle having the same breadth and depth.
Midship Coefficient (Cm) = Area of Immersed Midship Section (Am) ÷ (Breadth x
Draught)
Hence,
Am = B x d x Cm

Block Coefficient (Cb)

The block coefficient of a ship at any particular draft is the ratio of the volume of
displacement at that draft to the volume of a rectangular block having the same overall
length, breadth, and depth.

In the figure below, the shaded portion represents the volume of the ship’s displacement
at the draft concerned, enclosed in a rectangular block having the same overall length,
breadth, and depth.

lock Coefficient (Cb) = Volume of displacement ÷ Volume of the block

Block Coefficient (Cb) = Volume of displacement ÷ ( L x B x draft)

∴ Volume of displacement = L x B x draft x Cb

Example

Q. A ship 64 meters long, 10 meters maximum beam, has a light draft of 1.5 meters and
a load draft of 4 meters. The block coefficient of fineness is 0.600 at the light draft and
0.750 at the load draft. Find the deadweight.

Ans.
Light displacement = L x B x draft x Cb
= 64 x 10 x 1.5 x 0.600
= 576 cubic meters

Load displacement = L x B x draft x Cb

= 64 x 10 x 4 x 0.750
= 1920 cubic meters

Deadweight = Load displacement – Light displacement

= 1920 – 576 cubic meters
Deadweight = 1344 cubic meters
= 1344 x 1.025 tonnes
Deadweight = 1378 tonnes.

The Prismatic Coefficient (Cp)

The prismatic coefficient of a ship at any draft is the ratio of the volume of displacement
at that draft to the volume of a prism having the same length as the ship and the same
cross-sectional area as the ship’s midships area. The prismatic coefficient is used
mostly by ship-model researchers.

In the figure below the shaded portion represents the volume of the ship’s displacement
at the draft concerned, enclosed in a prism having the same length as the ship and a
cross-sectional area equal to the ship’s midships area (Am).
Prismatic coefficient (Cp) = Volume of ship ÷ Volume of prism
= Volume of ship ÷ (L x Am)
Volume of Ship = L x Am x Cp

Note that Cp is always slightly higher than Cb at each waterline.

Here how:

Cm x Cp = [Am ÷ (B x d)] x [Volume of ship ÷ (L x Am)]

= Volume of ship ÷ (L x B x d)
= Cb

Cm x Cp = Cb
or
Cp = Cb ÷ Cm

Having described exactly what Cw, Cb, Cm, and Cp are, it would be useful to know
what their values would be for several ship types. For most merchant vessels, the
coefficients are usually rounded off to three decimal places. However, for very large
vessels such as supertankers or ULCCs, they are rounded off to four decimal places.
First of all, it must be remembered that all of these form coefficients will never be more
than
unity. To be so is not physically possible.

For the Cb values at fully loaded drafts Table below gives good typical values.