James Cameron, director of the Titanic film, once dove in a submersible to the deepest point in the ocean. So he has connections within the community of submersible designers. Regarding the loss of the Titan, Cameron gave an interview in which he said that he had heard second hand reports from people in the Titan support crew who said that the vessel encountered problems, aborted its dive, dropped ballast, and was attempting to ascend at the moment of the implosion. So the people on board knew what was happening, they probably heard sounds of the hull beginning to strain, although the implosion itself would have been instantaneous.
The hull consisted of a carbon fiber tube with titanium endcaps, one of which served as a door (which could not be opened from inside) and contained the porthole.
I watched this that shows the making of the hull. So it seems that it’s carbon fibre over a metal cylinder. I don’t know if that cylinder is titanium but it doesn’t seem like the hull was pure carbon fibre. That cylinder is nowhere near thick enough for anything but the base for the carbon fibre though so it’s not like it would offer anything but squish in an emergency. But I did find this very interesting (and terrifying somehow):
*No hull monitoring system was needed during a April 2019 dive when Karl Stanley, submersible expert, took the Titan to 12,000 ft off the coast of the Bahamas. Stanley heard a cracking noise and urged Rush to cancel that summer’s dives to see the Titanic, reported the New York Times. *
Still better than being stuck in there for four days as their air supply ran out, which is what people thought might have happened before the wreckage was found.
I did not suggest that the scenario that I described was the worst case scenario. Another possibility was that the craft could have gotten turned on its end, e.g. after getting snagged on the wreck, or on other debris. Imagine five people piled on top of each other in a vertical tube asphyxiating over four days.
It would have been sufficiently terrifying… You’d be hearing the hull pop, groan, and creak, then the laptops used to drive the boat start lighting up with “DANGER! HULL INTEGRITY FAILURE!”, followed by Stockton frantically grabbing that video game controller to drop the ballast, do an emergency blow, but it’s already too late… You don’t know how long before you get turned into shark chum, but the suspense…
James Cameron, director of the Titanic film, once dove in a submersible to the deepest point in the ocean. So he has connections within the community of submersible designers. Regarding the loss of the Titan, Cameron gave an interview in which he said that he had heard second hand reports from people in the Titan support crew who said that the vessel encountered problems, aborted its dive, dropped ballast, and was attempting to ascend at the moment of the implosion. So the people on board knew what was happening, they probably heard sounds of the hull beginning to strain, although the implosion itself would have been instantaneous.
By all accounts, carbon fiber doesn’t “strain”. It does its thing great right up until it fails catastrophically.
Which is why they used acoustic sensors to monitor the carbon fiber’s integrity instead of strain gauges. They absolutely would have had warning.
Was the hull made purely of carbon fiber?
The hull consisted of a carbon fiber tube with titanium endcaps, one of which served as a door (which could not be opened from inside) and contained the porthole.
I watched this that shows the making of the hull. So it seems that it’s carbon fibre over a metal cylinder. I don’t know if that cylinder is titanium but it doesn’t seem like the hull was pure carbon fibre. That cylinder is nowhere near thick enough for anything but the base for the carbon fibre though so it’s not like it would offer anything but squish in an emergency. But I did find this very interesting (and terrifying somehow):
https://youtu.be/4O5F4ZVlIac?t=660
The tube section was carbon fiber only, no metal. The endcaps were titanium. Many thanks for the link, I will take a look!
Hmmm… still not sure…
The Titan Tragedy—A Deep Dive Into Carbon Fiber, Used for the First Time in a Submersible
OceanGate shows a metal tube around which the carbon fiber filament is wound but it may be a mandril removed after hardening of the composite.
I’ll be damned, you’re right, the carbon fiber was wound around a metal tube. My bad.
The Titan Tragedy—A Deep Dive Into Carbon Fiber, Used for the First Time in a Submersible
*No hull monitoring system was needed during a April 2019 dive when Karl Stanley, submersible expert, took the Titan to 12,000 ft off the coast of the Bahamas. Stanley heard a cracking noise and urged Rush to cancel that summer’s dives to see the Titanic, reported the New York Times. *
Was the hull made purely of carbon fiber?
No end caps were titanium alloy and the port was glass of course
The Cameron interview implied that the occupants saw signs of trouble. What form those signs took was not specified.
Still better than being stuck in there for four days as their air supply ran out, which is what people thought might have happened before the wreckage was found.
I did not suggest that the scenario that I described was the worst case scenario. Another possibility was that the craft could have gotten turned on its end, e.g. after getting snagged on the wreck, or on other debris. Imagine five people piled on top of each other in a vertical tube asphyxiating over four days.
It would have been sufficiently terrifying… You’d be hearing the hull pop, groan, and creak, then the laptops used to drive the boat start lighting up with “DANGER! HULL INTEGRITY FAILURE!”, followed by Stockton frantically grabbing that video game controller to drop the ballast, do an emergency blow, but it’s already too late… You don’t know how long before you get turned into shark chum, but the suspense…