THE EFFECT OF -APP_NONE AND

-CORRECT OPTIONS ON
CALCULATING THE METACENTRIC HEIGHT

FEBRUARY 2019
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Scope of Work

In total there are eight options one can use to compute the location of the center of gravity when a compartment
is not filled completely (slack). This is a result of approximate methods used in the past due to limited
computational power. Users are always to implement the -correct option. This document explains how the -
app none and -correct options in the &COMPARTMENT command affect the calculated metacentric height.
The remaining six options are considered obsolete nowadays and users should refrain from using them.

An analytical solution is produced first from first principles, followed by MOSES’ results. This is a static analysis
and is not to be confused with the dynamic effects arising when tank contents slosh.

MOSES v11 was used in generating results for this work.

Problem Description

An L×B×T=100×35×10 ft barge floats at an even keel in fresh water. The vertical center of gravity is 14 feet above
the keel. Find the metacentric height and the virtual metacentric height when there is a slack oil tank (SPGC=0.84)
with a free surface of L×B=20×14 feet.

Analytical Solution

Vol. of displacement, ∇= 𝐿𝐿 ∙ 𝐵𝐵 ∙ 𝑇𝑇 = 100 ∙ 35 ∙ 10 = 35000 𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓 3

𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙∙𝑠𝑠2 32.17𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓
Displacement, ∆= 𝜌𝜌 ∙ 𝑔𝑔 ∙ ∇= 1.94 ∙ ∙ 35000𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓 3 ≈ 2240 𝑘𝑘𝑘𝑘𝑘𝑘𝑘𝑘
𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓 4 𝑠𝑠2

100∙353
𝐼𝐼𝑥𝑥𝑥𝑥
The metacentric beam is 𝐵𝐵𝐵𝐵𝑇𝑇 = , 𝐵𝐵𝐵𝐵𝑇𝑇 = 12
, 𝐵𝐵𝐵𝐵𝑇𝑇 = 10.208 𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓
∇ 35000

𝐷𝐷
The barge KB, due to symmetry, will be 𝐾𝐾𝐾𝐾 = = 5𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓
2

From elementary naval architecture when tanks are empty the metacentric height is equal to

𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺𝑇𝑇 = 𝐾𝐾𝐾𝐾 + 𝐵𝐵𝐵𝐵𝑇𝑇 − 𝐾𝐾𝐾𝐾 = 5 + 10.208 − 14 = 𝟏𝟏. 𝟐𝟐𝟐𝟐𝟐𝟐𝟐𝟐𝟐𝟐

The GM T and GM L is calculated when the &STATUS B_W command is issued.

Everything calculated so far is shown in Figure 1.

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Figure 1 Buoyancy and weight status

The free surface (FS) effect created by a 20×14ft slack oil tank will create a virtual shift in the center of gravity
equal to
20 ∙ 143
𝜌𝜌𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡 𝐼𝐼𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡 1.63
𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺𝑉𝑉 = ∙ = ∙ 12 = 0.107𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓
𝜌𝜌𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 ∇ 1.94 35000

This is the free surface correction that needs to be considered.

Note that G does not actually rise, but the movement of the liquid in the tank has the same effect on GZ values
as if G had been caused to rise; hence the term “virtual”.

The free surface correction is applied to the original metacentric height to find the effective metacentric height

𝐺𝐺𝑀𝑀𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒 = 𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺 − 𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹 = 1.21 − 0.107 = 1.101 𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓

Numerical Solution

Let us use the above knowledge on the same barge and see how MOSES accounts for free surface effects. The
script in Appendix A will return two Buoyancy and Weight tables with the &STATUS B_W command. The first
buoyancy and weight table does not consider the FS correction and is created after

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&COMPARTMENT -app none -percent 1S 50 0.84 is issued.

The result is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2 Buoyancy and weight status without free surface effect

The computed GM T without accounting for the FS correction is 1.58 feet. We do expect the GM T to be reduced
when the free surface effect is accounted for.

Let us now consider the FS correction and compare the output values when the tank is half full. This is done with
the -correct option

&COMPARTMENT -correct -percent 1S 50 0.84.

The second buoyancy and weight table does consider the FS correction. The correct GM T has been reduced by
the GG V (0.107 ft) and shown in Figure 3.

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Figure 3 Buoyancy and weight status with free surface effect

Transverse FS Moment

The TANK_CAPACITY command in the command file will return the transverse and the longitudinal FS moment
created from the slack tank.

The free surface moment is equal to

20 ∙ 143 4 𝑘𝑘𝑘𝑘𝑘𝑘
𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝑇𝑇 = 𝐼𝐼𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇 ∙ 𝜌𝜌𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡 = 𝐼𝐼𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇 ∙ 𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡 ∙ 𝜌𝜌𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤 = 𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓 ∙ 0.84 ∙ 0.0624 3 = 239.2 𝑘𝑘𝑘𝑘𝑘𝑘 ∙ 𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓
12 𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓

203 ∙ 14 4 𝑘𝑘𝑘𝑘𝑘𝑘
𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐿𝐿 = 𝐼𝐼𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇 ∙ 𝜌𝜌𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡 = 𝐼𝐼𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇 ∙ 𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡 ∙ 𝜌𝜌𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤 = 𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓 ∙ 0.84 ∙ 0.0624 3 = 489.2 𝑘𝑘𝑘𝑘𝑘𝑘 ∙ 𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓
12 𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓

This is the values MOSES returns as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4 Free surface moments

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Factors influencing FS effects

- Tank breadth: if a tank is subdivided, the loss of GM can be greatly reduced.

- Tank length: FS moments, and subsequent loss of GM, are directly proportional to the density of the
liquid in the tank. The greater the liquid density, the greater the FS moment and subsequent loss of GM.
- Vessel displacement. FS moments are inversely proportional to the vessel displacement. For a given
tank, the loss of GM will be smaller as the displacement increases and vice-versa.

Appendix A

FSC.cif
&dimen -dimen feet kips
&device -oecho no

inmodel

hstatics
cform 0.5 0 0 -draft .5 20
report
end

&instate -condition 10 0 0 $ Draught

&compartment -app_none -percent 1S 50 .84 $ No FS effect

&weight -compute MyBrg 14 $ compute wgt so grav force = sum other Forces
tank_capacity 1S 4 $ compute wgt, volume and CoG of compartment
report
end
end

&set gm_non = &body(gm MyBrg) $ type GMt and GMlong

&set ngmt = &token(1 %gm_non)
&set ngml = &token(2 %gm_non)
&set disp = &body(displ MyBrg)
&status b_w

&compartment -correct -percent 1S 50 .84 $ incl FS effect

&set fsm = &compartment(@ -fs_moment) $ return long & tran FS mom

&set c_mov = &token(2 %fsm) $ store tran FS mom

&set corr_gmt = &number(real %c_mov/%disp) $ GM tran correction
&type corr_gmt %corr_gmt

&set c_mov = &token(3 %fsm) $ store long FS mom

&set corr_gml = &number(real %c_mov/%disp) $ GM long correction
&type corr_gml %corr_gml

&set t_diff = &number(real %ngmt-%corr_gmt) $ Tran corr'n

&set l_diff = &number(real %ngml-%corr_gml) $ Long corr'n
&type
&type ****************************************
&type VALIDATION:
&type These numbers should agree with what is reported in &STATUS B_W

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&type GMTran %t_diff GMLong %l_diff
&status b_w
&finish

FSC.dat

&dimen -save -dimen feet kips

&describe body MyBrg

$
$******* LxBxD = 100x35x10'
$
pgen hull -diftype 3ddif
plane 0 -rect 0 10 35
plane 25 -rect 0 10 35
plane 50 -rect 0 10 35
plane 75 -rect 0 10 35
plane 100 -rect 0 10 35
end_pgen

&describe compartment 1S
pgen C1S -both
plane 0 -cartesian \
0 0 \
7 0 \
7 10 \
-7 10 \
-7 0
plane 20 -cartesian \
0 0 \
7 0 \
7 10 \
-7 10 \
-7 0
end_pgen
$
$******* This is an alternative way to define Comp 1S
$
$&describe compartment 1S
$pgen C1S -location 0 0
$plane 0 20 -rect 0 10 14
$end_pgen
&dimen -remember
&default -remember

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