I.

INTRODUCTION

A floating body is said to be stable at its position, if it returns to that position following a small

disturbance. The stability of any vessel which is to float on water, such as a pontoon or ship, is of paramount

importance. The theory behind the ability of this vessel to remain upright must be clearly understood at the

design stage.

In a floating body, there are two opposing vertical forces. The downward force is the weight itself of

a floating body while the upward force is the buoyant force. Buoyant force is a force that results from a floating

or submerged body in a fluid which results from different pressures on the top and bottom of the object and

acts through the centroid of the displaced volume.

When a body undergoes an angular displacement about a horizontal axis, the shape of the immersed

volume changes and so the center of buoyancy moves relative to the body.

II. OBJECTIVES

1. To demonstrate the stability of a floating pontoon.

2. To determine whether the body is in a stable or unstable equilibrium.

3. To help the students locate the center of gravity and to familiarize the concept of buoyancy.

III. MATERIALS

1. Pontoon

2. Magnetic weights

IV. PROCEDURE

1. Fit the two magnetic weights to the base of the pontoon.

2. Fit the hook of the centre of gravity cord through the hole in the side of the sail, ensuring that the

small weight is free to hang down on the side of the sail which has the scored centre line.
 3. Clamp the adjustable weight into the V-slot on the centre line of the lowest row and suspend the

pontoon from the free end of the thick cord.

4. Mark the point where the plumb line crosses the sail centre line with typists’ correcting fluid or a

similar marking fluid.

5. Repeat no.3 for other four rows.

V. RESULTS AND CALCULATIONS

Weight of Pontoon (excluding jockey weight) Wp= 5.58 kg

Weight of jockey Wj= 0.391 kg

Total weight of floating assembly W= 5.98 kg

Pontoon displacement V= 5.98x10-3 m3

Breadth of pontoon D= 36.5cm

Length of pontoon L= 56.5 cm

Area of pontoon A=0.206225 m2

Depth of immersion OC=V/A=5.98x10-3m3/0.206225 m2 OC=0.028997 m

Height of center of buoyancy B above O OB BC=OC/2=0.0144985 m

Height of Center of Gravity

yj(mm) 305.8 241.808 187.966 184.62 78.4

OG(mm) 88.9 80 76 67 58

Table 1 Heights OG of G above base O of Pontoon

Experimental determination of metacentric height GM

 Angles of list for adjustable weight lateral

Height of adjustable displacement from sail center line x1 (mm)

weight y1 (mm) -75 -60 -45 -30 -15 0 15 30 45 60 75

305.8 5° 0 5°

7.5 3.9 4.1

241.808 ° ° 0 ° 8°

9.2 6.4 3.5 6.5 9.3

187.966 ° ° 3° 0 ° ° °

10.2 7.7 5.1 2.5 5.5 10.2

184.62 ° ° ° ° 0 3° ° 8° °

11 7.2 4.6 2.4 2.5 4.8 11

78.4 ° 9° ° ° ° 0 ° ° 7° 9° °

Table 2 Angles of Tilt Cause By Jockey Displacement

The table shows values for list of angles with respect to height and position of adjustable weight.

Angle of Tilt(°)
-100 -80 -60 -40 -20 0 20 40 60 80 100
15

10
Jockey Displacement (mm)

-5

-10

-15

5TH LAYER 4TH LAYER 3RD LAYER 2ND LAYER 1ST LAYER
Fig.1 Variation of angle of tilt with Jockey Displacement

CALCULATION OF BG (distance between the center of gravity of the pontoon and the center of buoyancy

acting on the pontoon)

BG = OG – OB

Gradient
OG OB BG
yj(mm) of Stability
(mm) (mm) (mm)
(mm/rad)

305.8 88.9 14.4985 74.4015 171.9

241.808 80 14.4985 65.5015 214.875

187.966 76 14.4985 61.5015 268.593

184.62 67 14.4985 52.5015 334.87

78.4 58 14.4985 43.5015 390.682

TABLE 3 CALCULATION OF BG AND STABILITY GRADIENT

Chart Title
80

75

70

65

60

55

50

45

40
0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0
 Figure 2 Variation Of Stability With Metacentric Height

JOCKEY OG Gradient Metacentric

BM
HEIGHT (mm) of Stability height
(mm)
(mm) (mm/°) GM (mm)

305.8 88.9 3.0 11.24 85.64

241.808 80 3.8 14.05 79.55

187.966 76 4.7 17.56 79.06

184.62 67 5.8 21.90 74.40

78.4 58 6.8 25.54 69.05

Table 4 Metacentric Derived Experimentally

VI. DISCUSSION

In this experiment, the students are able to demonstrate the stability of floating pontoon by following

the experimental procedure, and to determine whether the body is stable or unstable equilibrium by the height

of its center of gravity, and in this experiment the stability of a pontoon may be determined with its center of

gravity at various heights.

Buoyancy works according to Archimedes principle, the upward force on an object that’s fully or

partially immersed in a fluid is equal to the weight of the fluid that it displaces. If the fluid changes in the

experiment and has a constant density, the object is submerged by a fixed amount, the buoyancy force will

be proportional to the density of the fluid been tested.

The students are able to locate the center of gravity by the use of pontoon, with this it is found that

the body is stable if and only if the body returns to it origin and otherwise if it goes to another equilibrium.
VII. CONCLUSION

The students concluded the following:

1. The pontoon approaches the stable equilibrium when the jockey is near to centerline.

2. The pontoon approaches the unstable equilibrium when the jockey is far from the centerline.

3. The distance of the pontoon greatly affects the stability of the floating body.

VIII. DOCUMENTATION