NATIONAL ADJtSCFif CHJM17TEE FOR AEROiiAUTICs

NATIONAL MWISORY(lOMkJTTEE FORAERONAUTICS.

NO. 183

STATIC STABILITY OF SEAPLAbi FLOATS ANDHULLS.

..

By%. S. Diehl, Bureau of Aeronautics, U.S.N.

. .
__ __

March, 1924.

_- _

NATIONAII A5VISORY COMMITIH FOR AEROitAGTIC5. TECHNICAL NOTENO- 183STATIC STABILITY OF SEAPLANE FLOATS ANDHULLS-* Bj7 W. S. Diehl.
.

One of the important factors in seaplane design is the Sta -bility at rest on thewater. Ordinarily thisis secured by basing a newdesign on theproportions followed in someoldand successful desigq. Sufficient datahasbeencompiled from.var- ioussources to clear up thispointin eachof thecasesrequir- ing study. Thesecasesarelateral and lon~itudinal stability-- of twinfloats, longitudinal stability of single floats, and lateral stability wherefing tip floats areused(aswitha singlemainfloator boathull). The longitudinal stability of boat hullsis so greatthatit maybe neglected. . The method followed in thecaseof single and twinfloats .J is to obtain a satisfactory approximation.to themetacentric . height and studythevalues actually usedin successful desiOms-_ LATERAL STABILITY - TWINFLOATS. . .

Thelateral metacentric height of twin floats is readily approximated by use of the conventional formula of NavalArchi- .
v

tecture.Referring to Figure 1, and to any workon NavalArchi- . -. tecture . BM=+ where I is themoment of inertia of thewaterplane areaand V . . ---.-,

-z.

thevolume of displacement. Let 6 be the spacing of tine floa~s on center Iinesj L the length, and b thebeamof eachfloa~~. Then,assuming theareaof the waterplane for eachflcatto be - Lb, themoment of inertia of thetotalwaterplane areais I = ((s +b)3 - (s - b)3) 12
=

+#6s2 b;+ 2b3)

..-

Theweight of one cubic footof seawateris 64 lb. Thexefore,thevolume displaced is

*
,

v=

&

where ~ is the gross weight of theseaplane in pounds. Combining the expressions for I and V:

Themetacentric height GM is thengiven by GM= BM-BG=64L ~ (6sb-+2b3 )- h

where h is thedistance of the c-g.abovethec.b. Thisformula is not exactin thatit assunes the waterplag_e_ areato be rectangular. It appears, however, upon studyof the formula, thata further apjmoxirition mightbe madein neglecting .- ,
q

the terms 2b3 and h, and attempting to allowforall approxi-F mations by theuse of a single constant, whosevalueis deter-. minedby calculation or by experiment. Thatis

-3. GM = + where A is the gross displacement in pounds. Thevalue of KI has beendetermined froma series of tests at theWashington NavyYardExperimental ModelBasin, and found to be remarkably constant witha valueof 19.5as shown by Table . 1. Theapplication of thisformula to fullscalein design will be discussed later. LONGITUDINAL STABILITY- SINGLE AND TWIHFLOATS. Following ther.ethod used to deternine thelateral rnetacentricheight, it tillbe assumed thatthewaterplane a~ea. of each floatis rectangular andof area L X b, so thatY~emoment of inertia of thetotal waterplmeareais

1=%bL3
where n is thenumber of floats. Thisgives GM = 64nbL3 12 A -h or simplifying K2 nbL3 A The valueof K= has alsobeendetermined froma series of GM = . . inclining testsand foundto havean average vaiueof Kz = 2.10

.-

as shown by Table11. Individual values varymorefromthe average for K2 thanfor KI owingto thedeviations in thecon-

. . ,.

areawhichaffect the length morethanthe tourof thewaterplane of Kz depends uponthe cubeof the ?meadth, andthevallle di~ectlY on the le@hle~gtd whilethevalueof KI depends ._

Allowing forprobable errors in measur~m~nt, it aPP~ars thatthe . ap~roximate formula forlongitudinal metacentric hei@Jt willgive___ as 2c1OS ~esul~s within 10%when Kz is taken LATERAL STABILITY - SINGLE FLOATAND E(2AT TYPESEAPLANESsingle

floatandboatt~e seaplanes re@re theuse of aux-

iliary floats on thewingtipsto secure lateral stability: In thiscaseit seems advisable to makeuse of direct righting momentsrather thanmetaceatrio heights.Thewingtipfloats are . attached at a distance1, fromtheplaneof symmetry, and reWire%a lateral inclination Of @ degrees before submergence... _ Whenjustsubmerged a wingtipfloat, displacing A pounds, exerts a righting moment of LI = A ~ COS e lb. ft. Thedisturbing moment due to the lateral inclination is sinQ Ib+ft. % = T7h where W is thegrossweigilt of theseaplane am of the e.g.abovethe c-b. LI mustbe sufficiently greater than Le to allowforall
b

h thedistance

additional disturbing moments SUChas theeffect of sidewindon

.

moments thefuselage or on a yawed wingwithdihedral-These havebeencalculated for several representative casesand found

-5q

to be sma21in comparison withthemoment due to inclination. It shou?.d therefoze be alloxable to put LI =CL2 or A t COSCJ =.CWh sin6

arid deternine thevalueof c co rrespo~ding to sati sfac~ ry ( and -. unsatisfactory) designs.Thishasbeendoneforthe seaplanes . listed. in TableIII,and it is foundthat C? varies fTOm~.~tO 5.7. One design, the YE-7 seaplane, having a valueof C = 1.33, wasunsatisfactory. Doubling the displacement of theWingtip -q

.=

floatso that C! = 2.67, resulted in satisfactory stabi~..ity. In viewof tieperfor~nce of thevarious seaplanes tabulated in Table111,it is tobe concluded thatsatisfactory lateral stabilitywillbe obtained Then C = 2.00. APPLICATION TO DESIGN. Values of lateral ad longitudir~l me~centric heights for
VariOUS seaplaneshave been cal~la~ed by ~e~s of the apprOXi~te.

,.

formula e justderived.Thedataare givenin TableIV. Upon .plotting these metacentri.c heights against the corresponding @ts, as in Figs.2 and 3, it appears gross wei thatthemetacen-. tricheight is approxirlately a straight linefunction of the gross . .
q

metacentric height weight. Forthelateral GM = 13 + .Clo2w andfor the longitudinal metacentric height

. .. -.

-6GM
C

15 + .002 ~

GM beingin feetand thegrossweightW in pounds Obviously thevalues givenby thesetwolines areby no meansfinal. Theyarebasedon a small number of desires and referto approximate values for these designs=It is thought, hm-ever, thatthevalues so indicated area reliable guideto currentpractice.Changes may be raieas found desirable whenmore datahavebeenaccumulated. It is recommended thatthe longitudinal andlateral metacen. tricheights be ~~e equal and of thevaluegiven by . . w GM = 15 + .002 Theproper len@h or ~uacing ~equiredto satisfy the indicated valuemaY thenbe obtained frcmsubstitution in theapprOXim~te _ formulae formetacentric height. .

.-

. .

-7TABLEI. LATERAL STABILITY OF TWINFLOATS FOR SEAPLANES.

q

DETERMINATION OF KI IN TKEFORMULA

ltodel Length Beam SpacingDisHeta- L place- centric Lbs2 b on & rlen t height A ,s GM A ft. ft. ft. ft. lb. Loening 2:33 :292 .875 4-67 2-119 .1117 19.0 CT 2.083 . 34s 1.000 6.07 2.328 .1192 13.5 II 2.083 .348 1 000 .1423 20.9 2.9? 5.08 II 2.083 .348 1. Ooe 3.17 .1663 19.1 4.35 II 2.083 .348 1.000 3.63 .1993 20.1 4.01 11 2.083 .348 1; 000 5.06 2.72 .2660 19.0
q

.= -: . .

TS-1 DT Ss VT VT-1 .

1.832 .241 2 045

q

q 777

2.73 3.94 2.61 2-63 2.63

1.955 1.890 2.030 2.015 2,29 Avera ge

.0983 19.9 .1067 17:7 . ~028 19.8 .1048 1!3.2 .1097 20.8
,.. .

.296 .245

-833 .791 .803 -803

1.75

1.?48 .244 1.83 .244

19.5

. .

-8TAE.LE 11.
.

LONGITUDZNAHTAB IIJTY Ol? SIIAPL&NE FLOATS. Determination OF Q IN THE FOR.KULA GM . ~nbL3 A MODELTESTDATA.
.

Model Lengtt Beam1liumbe~ Met aDisplaceof centric height L b floats ment A GM in ft. ft.I lb. ft. ._ J..,__ Loenin 2.33 .292 1 2 3.164 4-67 t II 2.31 4.90 2.614 CT 2.083 6.07 2.053 II 2.083 5.08 2.90 i II 2.083 .348 2 4.35 3.47 n 2.083 .348 2 3.63 3.i9 H 2.083 .348 2 4.14 2.72 TS-1 1.832 .241 2 2.71 2.360 DT WA Ss TG VT vl&l 2.945 .296 2.09 .271 1*75 .245 2.36 .361 1.748 .244 1.83 3,133 .244 .699 2 1 2 1 2 2 1 3.94 2.37 2.61 3.75 2.63 2.63 9.35 2.423 2.196 2.414 2.482 2.395 2.270 4.18

nb L3 A

K2
-. -- - -

1.58 1.253

2.00

-.

1.034 1.99 -. . . . 1,~37 2.34 . ...1 1.443 2.40.

q

:.-.

. .

.,. .-

1.730 2 07 _.=; .: 2.310 1,79 . . 1.093 2.16 . :. .__,, 1.284 1.89 ._, 1.043 2>10 1.006 2.40 1.265 1.56 0.39 1.14 2.295 2.40 _

Nc

Average . . . . 2.10

-$j -

TABIJ3 III. LATERAL STABILITY SEAPLANES WITHWINGTIPFLOATS. SeaplaneGro BS Dis.* Wing Angle tan9 weight place- a;o$e tip to ment c.b, float subw each to G merge h wing wing tip tip 1. float float il. o lb. lb. ft. f-h . $ N9 2400 160 .158 5.7 19.1 9 4.9 I 26.4 HS-2 6430 275 .123 7 ,123 HS-3 6430 *O 4.5 26.4 7
c?

Remarks -

1.42

.,

1,87 5.03

3-16 F-5-L NC MI? iF VE-7 VE-7 Mod .40 HA

10900 1170 13500 1175 22000 laoo 2490 2600 2600 2467 3910 160 190 380 265 290 8850 1000

6.0 6,0 ?.5 4.0 5.0 6.0 6.0 4*3 5.0

30.4 33.2 41.5 15.6 Z.5 13.5 13.5 14.75 14.3

8 7 10 9 7 7 10 7

.140 3.88 .123 3.92 .176 1943

-. -+ .

079 5.70 4*.5.*

~158 3.23 123 1.33 lJnsatis-,

q

.123 2.67 .123 1.72

fat- .

.176 2.08 tory

, . - - __

TABEEIV. FULLSCALE METACENTRIC HEIGHT OF SEAPLANES. (CALCULATED BY FORMULA) Seaplam Dis- Lerqth Beam Number; Spacing Longitu-Lateral place- of dinal on & ment boat A ~ GM GM s b n ft. lb. ft. f-t ft ft. T bening 17.0 2450 18.67 2.33 2 26.0 7.0 ~~ 29.3 10000 25.00 4.7 27.4 z 12*O
q q

TS-1 DT Ss VT R6 Boeing WA TG
q

2025 16.50 6975 24.53

2.18 2 3.55 2.93 2.5@ 2 2 2

\
I I

70
IO*O 9.0

20.3 31.6 24.8 29.9 21.3 16.0 25.6 23.3 17.3 86.0 129.0

17.0 24.3 20.9 .. 29.4 29.8 16.4

I 8615. 25.75
4615 21*O 3950 20.0 2455 16.0 4~(30 25.06 .. ~8~ 21.25

3.61 ,2 2.2E! 2 3.25 1 3.25 1 1 1 1

I \ 11.83 I I 11.0 I 7.5 1

N9 * Nc GB

I Lateral metacentric heights (23! = 19.5Lbs2 *

IQ

2400 17.83 3.48 22000 44.8 10.0 I 65000 64. g6 14.6

1
I

,. . .

Longitudinal metacentric heights GM = 21~bL3

-.

, <

Fig.1

I
;

I I

Length =L Beam =~. Spacing= s

-.

-..

,,

G (C. g.)

- . . .

Original W? I;clined X . (s-b)

-. .:= .-

B(

lF-.

L ,.-. . -, . ... ,-

:. 3- b;
,,, ,:.
z-1 ..&----1 -----

,.

,-

32 30 -.
.-.. +-4. .. -. ...-. - -- --s . --. ~ -: .

--l+:
--. .+k 1

1,
-.-----,

--+-

I t
+ -

..

- -. . u

+-i-

~ / -~ ,

r
0

-----

i
I

___
2000 3000
Gross

I
4000
weight of

1
5000
seaplme, of

10 0

1000

6000
lb.

7000

8000

9000

Fig..2 Lateral metacpntrlc height

,,,

twin floati

seaplanes.
I

32 30 3
1
)

i!

; 2$ I

4
~ . ---.-

. ., . --. ... .+
10 0 1030
Fig.? !

2000

3000
Gros8 weight of seaplav.e, of
1,

lb, anti twin flodt seaplanes.

,..

Timri+md.inal nletacentric

height

shgle

~
,,