Titan sub implosion: What we know about catastrophic event

[Social Media]

 

US authorities say a debris field located in the North Atlantic leads to a conclusion that OceanGate's Titan submersible suffered a "catastrophic implosion" (a violent collapse inwards), instantly killing all five passengers on board.

The US Navy says it detected sounds "consistent with an implosion" shortly after the sub lost contact on Sunday during a descent to the Titanic wreck at 3,800m (12,467ft) below sea level - but this information was only made public on Thursday.

The loss of the deep-water vessel was finally confirmed after a huge search mission in the area off Canada's Newfoundland province.

What caused the implosion?

Titan's hull is believed to have collapsed on Sunday as a result of enormous water pressure.

The sub was built to withstand such pressure - and experts will now be trying to determine what exactly went wrong. Analysis of the debris may help to establish this.

Titan is believed to have been 3,500m below sea level when contact was lost.

 

The vessel was so deep that the amount of water on it would have been equivalent to the weight of the Eiffel Tower, tens of thousands of tonnes.

If there were a rupture to the structure, the pressure outside would be much greater than the one inside the hull, compressing the vessel.

 

FULL ARTICLE

 

[Smokey and the Bandit]

"OceanGate, the parent company of the Titan sub, "didn't get certified because they knew they wouldn't pass".

"I was very suspect of the technology that they were using. I wouldn't have gotten in that sub," he said.

Cameron has completed 33 submersible dives to the Titanic wreck.

Titan was built from carbon fibre and titanium."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65994707

[Mickeymaus]

If I understood it correctly they died so quickly that they didn't even realise that they die. Perhaps they don't even know it yet that they are dead ????.

[hotchilli]

5 hours ago, Social Media said:

What caused the implosion?

Poor design, poor choice of materials, lack of proper testing, lack of being properly regulated..

you name it, the list is endless.

[richard_smith237]

1 hour ago, Mickeymaus said:

If I understood it correctly they died so quickly that they didn't even realise that they die. Perhaps they don't even know it yet that they are dead ????.

Two 'confused' emoticons... (so far) to your post... but you are correct. 

 

The 'implosion would have been followed by an instantaneous incineration of the (relatively) hydrocarbon rich atmosphere' this is calculated to be significantly faster (at 1 millisecond0 than the synapses in the brain can transmit sensory information (25 milliseconds).... 

 

So...  unless there was some sort of warning, creaking etc alerting them to imminent catastrophic failure the 'event itself' would have been so instantaneous there was insufficient time for the brain to register the event - i.e. within a 'millisecond' the passengers of the Sub would have gone from being breathing humans to incinerated ash, dust and cell matter - they would not have known a thing about it (unless there were structural warnings of imminent failure). 

 

Hopefully that explains and educates the point for the two 'bright sparks' who posted 'confused emoji's' and perhaps struggled to comprehend the basics of the linked BBC article. 

[scottiejohn]

51 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

Hopefully that explains and educates the point for the two 'bright sparks' who posted 'confused emoji's' and perhaps struggled to comprehend the basics of the linked BBC article. 

Or they were confused by the pointless last sentence in the post!

[newnative]

What we know is it should never have been allowed to be launched.  Period.  

[pacovl46]

2 hours ago, Mickeymaus said:

If I understood it correctly they died so quickly that they didn't even realise that they die. Perhaps they don't even know it yet that they are dead ????.

Exactly.

[Chomper Higgot]

“The sub was built to withstand such pressure”

Evidently not.

[pacovl46]

Apparently the guy who worked for OceanGate who was fired in 2018 said that the plexiglass window is only rated to 1300 meters.

 

I doubt that they were already at 3500 meters when it imploded because the journey from the surface to the Titanic normally takes about 3 hours and they were only halfway there time-wise,  which would put them at around 1800 meters. Of course it's possible that they decended too fast, but why would you do that?

 

Then there's also the fact that this sub didn't have an emergency locator beacon. How insane is that, given the fact, that the sub didn't have navigational equipment either and communication had been lost several times during previous dives! 

 

[gargamon]

18 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

“The sub was built to withstand such pressure”

Evidently not.

It was built to withstand the pressure. They forgot to check the best by date though, as the technology used to build it degrades with time and repeated submerge cycles. 

 

The idea that they went quickly without foreknowledge is probably incorrect as one guy was saying they had declared an emergency and started ascent before it imploded. Yes, they went quick when it happened, but if this guy is correct they knew it was coming. 

[Mickeymaus]

33 minutes ago, pacovl46 said:

Apparently the guy who worked for OceanGate who was fired in 2018 said that the plexiglass window is only rated to 1300 meters.

 

I doubt that they were already at 3500 meters when it imploded because the journey from the surface to the Titanic normally takes about 3 hours and they were only halfway there time-wise,  which would put them at around 1800 meters. Of course it's possible that they decended too fast, but why would you do that?

 

Then there's also the fact that this sub didn't have an emergency locator beacon. How insane is that, given the fact, that the sub didn't have navigational equipment either and communication had been lost several times during previous dives! 

 

I read that communication with radio signals is not possible because of the salt water and depth. They use acoustic signals (sonar) for communication. 

 

https://www.media.mit.edu/projects/translational-acoustic-rf-tarf-communication/overview/#:~:text=communicate with airplanes%3F-,For decades%2C communicating between underwater and the air has remained,across both water and air.

[scottiejohn]

1 hour ago, pacovl46 said:

Exactly.

Exactly what?

 

[BusyB]

3 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Poor design, poor choice of materials, lack of proper testing, lack of being properly regulated..

you name it, the list is endless.

Another CEO that never got past the potty training stage during the terrible twos.

 

''No mammy! You can't have it! It's mine! Noone's going to tell me what to do!''

 

BBC: The sub was built to withstand such pressure.

 

Was it? No outside, expert advanced technological agency was allowed to check that. There were many warnings about the design. And it has clearly NOT withstood the pressure. Certainly not for repeated use, which is what testing would have assessed.

 

[Troy Tempest]

HEADLINE:  Reckless fool (Stockton Rush) kills fools near Wreck!

 

You would have had to be an idiot to go in that submersible!

 

Un-regulated, untested by authorities.

 

With the costs of the Fatal Trip the phrase "More Money Than Sense" springs to mind!

 

"Ripped Off".......Now RIP!

[kidneyw]

2 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

“The sub was built to withstand such pressure”

Not from aseannow.

[Tug]

It failed 5 dead questionable construction techniques (sosus) knew in real time a major dog and pony show for the rich idiots who want to look at a pile of scrap metal on the bottom but on the bright side it’s good practice for deep water recovery techniques sorry just not much sympathy for the adventurer tourists 

[pacovl46]

9 hours ago, Mickeymaus said:

I read that communication with radio signals is not possible because of the salt water and depth. They use acoustic signals (sonar) for communication. 

 

https://www.media.mit.edu/projects/translational-acoustic-rf-tarf-communication/overview/#:~:text=communicate with airplanes%3F-,For decades%2C communicating between underwater and the air has remained,across both water and air.

That's true. There is an emergency locator beacon especially for submarines called SEPIRB, though. They float to the surface and then emit the signal via radio. 

• SEPIRBs (submarine emergency position-indicating radio beacons) are EPIRBs designed only for use on submarines 

[pacovl46]

9 hours ago, scottiejohn said:

Exactly what?

 

They died so quickly that they didn't even realize it. 

[pacovl46]

12 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Poor design, poor choice of materials, lack of proper testing, lack of being properly regulated..

you name it, the list is endless.

They did more than enough tests to be fair. The problem is that they apparently had no way to check or didn't want to spend the money to check whether the carbon fiber hull had any internal damage, like delamination for example. 

[pacovl46]

10 hours ago, gargamon said:

It was built to withstand the pressure. They forgot to check the best by date though, as the technology used to build it degrades with time and repeated submerge cycles. 

 

The idea that they went quickly without foreknowledge is probably incorrect as one guy was saying they had declared an emergency and started ascent before it imploded. Yes, they went quick when it happened, but if this guy is correct they knew it was coming. 

Do you have a link to that statement? It's the first time I'm hearing about them having declared an emergency. 

[hotchilli]

1 hour ago, pacovl46 said:

They did more than enough tests to be fair. The problem is that they apparently had no way to check or didn't want to spend the money to check whether the carbon fiber hull had any internal damage, like delamination for example. 

He refused independent testing by any company. The CEO said it was fine.

Was it?

[Ralf001]

1 hour ago, hotchilli said:

He refused independent testing by any company. The CEO said it was fine.

Was it?

It was fine the other times it dived to that depth.

 

Me thinks some sort scheduled fatigue testing should have been performed though.

[hotchilli]

53 minutes ago, Ralf001 said:

It was fine the other times it dived to that depth.

 

Me thinks some sort scheduled fatigue testing should have been performed though.

He was told that, by many different people in the deep sea business, who shared their concerns for his safety.
The materials he used for the body were of a laminated type of carbon fibre material.

Each dive exerts extreme pressure on the whole submersible.

Usually all deep sea submersibles undergo periodic testing for fatigue, and are then re-certified by testing authorities.

He thought this was unnecessary, his vessel actually was never tested or certified any approved testing authority.

[stevenl]

5 hours ago, pacovl46 said:

Do you have a link to that statement? It's the first time I'm hearing about them having declared an emergency. 

I read they declared an emergency 1 hour 20 or so into the descent.

[stratocaster]

There was a quote on the TV that it was build with the same care as a kit car in a shed. This is a slur on people like me who built cars in our sheds to a standard far higher than the Titan.I had a hobby business in Thailand making carbon fibre parts for cars, so know a little about the material. The shell was constructed by winding a 2 inch wide strip of CF on to a tube with the interior diameter of the sub to a depth of 5 inches. The binder was applied with no precision, in fact a person can be seen squeegeeing the excess binder off which is squeezing out of the weave. It was laid up in a space with the large doors open, so no dust free or temperature control. No vacuum bag or autoclave system used. The most frightening thing to see is inserting the rings to connect the end caps to the shell using a two pack epoxy adhesive. This is mixed by hand with a lollipop stick. It is applied with a putty knife by hand with a guy up a ladder. You can see on the video where the epoxy is applied too thin in some areas and too thick on others.

[jerrymahoney]

From NY Times:

 

Ship That Launched Ill-Fated Titan Submersible Returns to Newfoundland

 

Kathy Fox, the chairwoman of the safety board, said that family members of the five people who were inside the submersible when it was destroyed were among the 41 people on the ship when it sailed on June 18. Another official with the safety investigation body said that 17 of the people aboard belonged to the ship’s crew.

 

The family members were among the people who were interviewed on Saturday by the safety board.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/24/world/canada/polar-prince-titan-newfoundland.html

 

https://archive.is/TauFj

[pacovl46]

On 6/24/2023 at 11:08 PM, hotchilli said:

He refused independent testing by any company. The CEO said it was fine.

Was it?

That's true, but the sub was tested by themselves. I don't think that Rush had a death wish. 

[pacovl46]

On 6/25/2023 at 3:19 AM, stevenl said:

I read they declared an emergency 1 hour 20 or so into the descent.

I read that here, too, but I haven't heard anything about that in any of the news reports. James Cameron apparently has some good connections in the business, which he has contacted, and he said in a video that he posted on YouTube that communications were lost at the same time as the transponder stopped working and that the Navy picked up up a noise consistent with implosion more or less at the same time. I just hope for the sake of the people in the sub that there were no warning signs beforehand.

[hotchilli]

2 hours ago, pacovl46 said:

That's true, but the sub was tested by themselves. I don't think that Rush had a death wish. 

When the CEO says it's fine, who's going to argue?