Experimental Study of Capsize Delay

Roll-on Roll-off (Ro-Ro) ships can experience rapid capsize due to the loss of ship metacentric height from the free surface effect of vehicle deck flooding. To reduce the free surface effect it is useful to add subdivisions or partitions to the vehicle deck. This paper summarizes the results from a series of heel experiments where the heel angle is measured after a small volume of water added to a 1.8x0.47x0.31 m box model. The resulting heel angle was measured without partitions and with partitions up to 10 degrees. The observation of the water flow provides the basis for developing a mathematical model for capsize delay.