ballasting
Loading for stability
Ballasting is the process of adding heavy material to stabilize something.
Ships take on ballast water to maintain balance when cargo is light.
Railroad ballasting involves spreading crushed stone beneath and around tracks to anchor ties and distribute weight.
Figuratively, ballasting can mean providing stability or grounding: The practical concerns of daily life were ballasting her wild ambitions.
Balancing mass in machinery
- anchorSecures ships to seabed
- equilibriumState of balance
- steadyFixed, not fluctuating
- balanceSteadiness or amount owed
secure · level · trim · stability · weight · load · mass · heaviness
Hull's structural base
- hullOuter covering or frame
- bilgeShip's water-collecting depths
- trimRemove unwanted edges
- seawaterSalty ocean fluid
tanks · cargo · hold · draft · buoyancy · stability · vessel · freeboard
Combined sum total
- gravelLoose small rock fragments
- substrateUnderlying supporting material
- beddingMaterials covering a mattress
- subbaseFoundation beneath a surface
drainage · compaction · fill · base · underpinning · groundwork · reinforcement · support
counterweight
Balancing mass in machinery
- anchorSecures ships to seabed
- equilibriumState of balance
- steadyFixed, not fluctuating
balance · secure · level · trim · stability · weight · load · mass · heaviness · distribution
keel
Hull's structural base
seawater · tanks · cargo · hold · draft · buoyancy · stability · vessel · freeboard · displacement
aggregate
Combined sum total
- gravelLoose small rock fragments
- substrateUnderlying supporting material
- beddingMaterials covering a mattress
subbase · drainage · compaction · fill · base · underpinning · groundwork · reinforcement · support · roadbed
gravel
Loose small rock fragments
tamping · crosstie · drainage · embankment · right-of-way · spike · rails · roadbed · trackbed · cinder
- ship operationsanchoring, berthing, docking, undocking, mooring
- lighting termsdimming, LED bulb, floodlight, brightening, incandescent bulb
- shipbuildingshipyards, shipyard, dockyards, dockyard, hull
- reinforcingreinforcing, strengthening, supporting, bolstering, shoring
- offshore operationsdynamic positioning, ROV, saturation diving, decommissioning, commissioning
ballastinglightening
Making lighter in weight/shade
unloading · offloading · discharging · unburdening · relieving
ballastingdestabilizing
Causing loss of equilibrium
unbalancing · capsizing · tipping · upsetting