Historical roots of the theory of hydrostatic stability of ships

Abstract

The physical principles of hydrostatic stability for floating systems were first pronounced by ARCHIMEDES in antiquity, although his demonstration examples were limited to simple geometrical shapes. The assessment of stability properties of a ship of arbitrary shape at the design stage became practically feasible only about two millennia later after the advent of infinitesimal calculus and analysis. The modern theory of hydrostatic stability of ships was founded independently and almost simultaneously by Pierre BOUGUER ("Traité du Navire", 1746) and Leonhard EULER ("Scientia Navalis", 1749). They established initial hydrostatic stability criteria, BOUGUER's well-known metacenter and EULER's restoring moment for small angles of heel, and defined practical procedures for evaluating these criteria. Both dealt also with other aspects of stability theory. This paper will describe and reappraise the concepts and ideas leading to these historical landmarks, compare the approaches and discuss the earliest efforts leading to the practical acceptance of stability analysis in ship design and shipbuilding. © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011.