On the Flooding Effect Diagram, what does Yellow indicate?

• A. Stability decreases if Free Surface exists; increases if does not
• B. White: Not significant
• C. Green: Stability increases despite Free Surface existing
• D. Pink: Stability decreases despite Free Surface

Answer: (A)

The Flooding Effect Diagram uses color to show how flooding changes stability, with free-surface behavior being a key factor. Yellow flags a conditional effect: the impact on stability depends on whether the flooded space contains a free surface. If a free surface exists, the water can slosh and shift, lowering the metacentric height and making stability worse. If there is no free surface (the water is fully enclosed), the added water behaves more like ballast and can increase the stability margin in the diagram’s sense. So yellow corresponds to the scenario where stability decreases with a free surface but increases when there isn’t one. White means not significant, Green means stability increases despite a free surface, and Pink means stability decreases despite a free surface.